Knowledge and Attitudes of Ege University Midwifery, Nutrition-Dietetic, and Nursing Students About Natural Functional Foods

Objective: This study aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of midwifery, nutrition-dietetic, and nursing students at Ege University about natural functional foods. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study included all senior midwifery, nutrition-dietetics, and nursing students at Ege University in the 2019–2020 academic year. Of all 442 senior students in these departments, 384 (86.9%) could be reached. The dependent variables were knowledge and attitude regarding functional foods. Knowledge was defined as having heard of and giving at least five examples of functional foods. The attitude was evaluated through the Attitude Towards Functional Foods Scale. The sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and the perceptions of health were independent variables. Data were collected through a questionnaire and the attitude scale. Chi-square test, Student’s t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were used for the data analyses. Results: More than half of the students stated that they had never heard of the term ‘functional food’ previously; 37.5% could not give an example for functional foods. Nutrition dietetics students were able to give more examples of functional foods than nursing and midwifery students (p

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