School Dietitians Need Useful Nutrition Counseling Materials

학교영양사가 요구하는 영양교육 교재의 특성

The purpose of this study was to investigate dietitians' needs of teaching materials about nutrition education for school children in Kyonggi and Chungnam(including Daejeon) areas. This study was carried out using questionnaires via e-mail or in class to the subjects of 166 elementary school dietitians as 68 in Kyonggi and 98 in Chungnam. The number of small(less than 700 meals), medium(700-1400 meals) and large(over 1400 meals) schools based on served meals daily were 48, 62 and 56, respectively. The results are as follows: Frequency of nutrition education for students as well as for teachers was samely very low as 'once per two months' and the education used to perform during lunch time mostly. For preparing nutrition education they obtained informations from the internet(64.0%). The main topics of nutrition education they used to covered were 'et's eat breakfast', 'table manners', 'the relations of body and nutrients', 'food waste', 'foods and calorie', etc.. The largest limit of nutrition education practices faced by school dietitians were pointed out as 'lacks of teaching materials' and 'counseling techniques'. Most dietitians wanted CD or substantial teaching materials for the practices, and required their contents covering 'cooking', 'food and calories', 'let’s eat various foods', 'relations of body and nutrients', 'regular meal is important’ and etc.. Since we expect nutrition teachers to be realized soon, nutrition education/counseling is emphasized more as their duty. Even though school dietitians revealed poor self-confidence, they were positive to get improved by reeducation of nutrition counseling methods and skills. If easy and suitable education materials(CD type) are developed as good as the school dietitians desired, the materials could contribute much to better nutrition education/counseling practices at schools.