Health perceptions and orthorexia nervosa tendencies among academics.

Abstract

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to determine the perception of academicians' health status, identify academicians' orthorexia nervosa (ON) tendencies, and identify the factors associated with academicians' ON tendencies. DESIGN AND METHODS Personal information form (14 questions), Perception of Health status Scale, and ON (ORTO-11) Scale were used in data collection. FINDINGS The mean age of the participants was 42.23 ± 8.18. Of the academicians, 77.6% were female and 38.8% were in health-related departments. The health perception mean score was 1.82 ± 0.64. The average score of the ORTO-11 Scale was 22.86 ± 4.00, and 84.5% were found to be at risk of ON. There was a correlation between perception of health status and ORTO-11 (r = -0.286; p < 0.05). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Most of the academicians had a high tendency to ON. However, it is necessary to increase their awareness by providing training. Further studies should be carried out for certain diagnosis of ON.