A comparative study of nutritional knowledge and practices of Maltese secondary school students

Abstract

Students obtain nutrition education in schools through various subjects, where the educational content varies from one subject to another. This leads to having different students with different nutritional knowledge, according to subjects studied. This dissertation has researched the nutritional knowledge of students aged 12 to 16, attending Maltese Secondary Schools, through a knowledge-based test. The correlation between the students' nutritional knowledge and practice was also investigated. This was done through a three-day dietary survey and a questionnaire. Results indicate that, the majority of research participants have referred to Home Economics and Biology as the main sources of nutrition education. Yet, results obtained from the knowledge-based test have shown that students from the Biology group are more knowledgeable on nutrition issues when compared to Home Economics students. This indicates that besides the nutritional content taught to students, there are other factors influencing the students' nutritional knowledge. When relating nutritional knowledge to practice, no direct correlation was found, even though students obtaining direct formal nutrition education seem to be practicing this knowledge. Overall, the results of this study indicate the importance of providing all students in our schools, not only with nutritional knowledge, but much more with guidance how to apply this knowledge into practice.