Dietitians’ Requirements and Self-evaluation of Knowledge and Attitude for Educational Program Development of Sustainability Management at School Foodservice

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to identify dietitians’ requirements and self-evaluation of knowledge and attitude levels for sustainability management at school foodservice and compare the knowledge and attitude by general characteristics. Excluding responses with missing data, 187 responses were used for data analysis. The respondents were 38.5% in their 30s, 47.1% with 6 to 10 years of experience and 39.6% in elementary schools. In terms of knowledge, ‘facility and energy management (4.24)’ category received the highest perceived need score, followed by ‘procurement (4.07)’ and ‘waste management (4.04)’. The knowledge category that received the highest self evaluation was ‘procurement (3.59)’, while the category that received the lowest self-evaluation was ‘nutrition education (3.04)’. In terms of attitude, the highest perceived need was associated with ‘procurement (4.21)’, followed by ‘facility and energy management (4.14)’ and ‘waste management (4.08)’. The attitude category that received the highest self evaluation was ‘facility and energy management (3.88)’, while the category that received the lowest self-evaluation was ‘nutrition education (3.15)’. The dietitians’ requirements of knowledge and attitude scores were significantly higher than their self-evaluated knowledge and attitude scores in all job functional areas (p<0.001). In most areas, the needs and self-evaluation showed significant differences according to career, type of contract, and working school level. In all functional area, dietitians’ knowledge and attitude scores of elementary school were the highest (p<0.001).