Öğretmen Adaylarının Yeterli ve Dengeli Beslenme Alışkanlıklarının Belirlenmesi (Muğla İli Örneği)

Abstract

Başta kendi yaşam kalitesini sağlama amacı olmak üzere bireylerin; topluma yararlı ve üretken olabilmeleri için sağlıklı bir vücuda sahip olmaları gerekmektedir. Vücut sağlığının korunmasında ise beslenme alışkanlıkları ön plana çıkmaktadır. Bu nedenle araştırmanın amacı geleceğimizin temel taşı olan çocuklarımızın, sağlıklı ve bilinçli beslenme alışkanlığı kazanarak yetişmesini sağlayacak ve de toplumların doğru beslenmelerine yön verecek olan yarınlarımızın önemli rol modelleri olacak olan, öğretmen adaylarının beslenme alışkanlıklarının yeterli ve dengeli beslenme durumlarını cinsiyet, barınılan yer, su tüketimleri ve vücut kitle indeksi değeri (VKİ) değişkenleri açısından incelemektir. Araştırmanın evrenini 2014 -2015 eğitim öğretim yılı bahar döneminde Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesinde öğrenim gören öğrenciler oluştururken; örneklemini ise tesadüfî olarak belirlenen 848 öğretmen adayı oluşturmaktadır. Veriler SPSS 14 paket programı ile analiz edilmiş, yüzde (%), frekans (n), t testi ve ki-kare istatistiksel yöntemleriyle yorumlanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda öğretmen adaylarının beslenme alışkanlıkları açısından yeterli ve dengeli beslenme durumlarının orta düzeyde olduğu görülmüştür. Ayrıca cinsiyet, barınılan yer ve VKİ değerleri açısından yeterli ve dengeli beslenme durumlarının farklılaşmadığı ve orta düzeyde olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Vücut sağlığı açısından önemli bir yere sahip olan su tüketim durumları açısından ise öğretmen adaylarının direkt su tüketim miktarlarının normal olduğu belirlenmiştir. Cinsiyet, barınılan yer ve VKİ değerleri açısından su tüketim düzeylerinde bir değişim gözlenmemekle birlikte VKİ değeri normalden aşırıya doğru gittikçe bireyin su ihtiyacının arttığını söylemek olasıdır

For individuals to have quality lives and to be useful and productive for their societies, they need to have a healthy body. And for the protection of physical health, eating habits are of great importance. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the adequate and balanced eating habits of the pre-service teachers who will educate our future generations in relation to their gender, place of residence, water consumption and body mass index (BMI).The population of the current study is comprised of the student sattending the Education Faculty of MuglaSıtkıKocman University in the spring term of 2014-2015 academic year and the sampling consists of randomly selected 848 preservice teachers. The collected data were analyzed through SPSS 14 program package and interpreted by using percentages (%), frequencies (n), t-test and Chi-square statistics. At the end of the study, it was concluded that the students’ eating habits are at the medium level in terms of adequate and balanced nutrition. Moreover, their adequate and balanced eating habits do not vary significantly depending on their gender, place of residence and BMI. However, in terms of their water consumption that is very important for body health, direct water consumption of the students was found to be normal. Though no significant difference in their water consumption levels based on their gender, place of residence and BMI values was observed, it can be told that with BMI values ascending from normal to extreme, the water consumption need of the individual is increasing The main responsibility in educating children about healthy eating patterns should be taken by teachers but for teachers to be able to this, they need to be conscious and knowledgeable about health eating habits. In this connection, it seems to be important to determine the eating habits of pre-service teachers who will take the responsibility of educating future generations and be role models for the society in the future. Moreover, given that most of the pre-service teachers are still adolescents, they are in their developmental period and this is the most important period in terms of shaping eating habits, they should be encouraged and informed for adopting healthy eating habits. Thus, the purpose of the current study was set to be to determine the state of the pre-service teachers’ adequate and balanced eating habits in relation to gender, place of residence, water consumption and BMI values. In line with the purpose of the study, problem statement of the study is expressed as follows: “What is the state of the pre-service teachers’ adequate and balanced eating in relation to gender, place of residence, water consumption and BMI values?. And the sub-problems are as follows: 1. Does the state of the pre-service teachers’ adequate and balanced eating vary significantly depending on their gender? 2. Does the state of the pre-service teachers’ adequate and balanced eating vary significantly depending on their place of residence? 3. Does the state of the pre-service teachers’ adequate and balanced eating vary significantly depending on their BMI values? 4. Does the state of the pre-service teachers’ water consumption vary depending on their gender, place of residence and BMI values? This is a qualitative study employing the descriptive method. Descriptive research is a kind of research investigating events as they are to determine the actual state of the events (Tanrıöğen 2011: 59).As it allows conducting research on large samples and eliciting individuals’ attitudes and situations, the study was designed in the form of a survey study.The population of the study is comprised of all the pre-service teachers attending the Education Faculty of Muğla Sıktı Koçman University in 2014-2015 academic year and the sampling consists of 848 pre-service teachers randomly selected from the population.In the current study, as a data collection tool, eating habits questionnaire consisting of two parts was used. For the construction of this eating habits questionnaire, first literature was reviewed and then the opinions of dieticians were sought and thus the items were formed. While the first part of the questionnaire includes items to elicit personal information of the participants, the second part of the questionnaire includes items to elicit data about the eating habits of the participants.In the analysis of the data, SPSS 14 was used. On the basis of the data provided in the questionnaire about the height and weight, each participant’s body mass index was calculated. The formula used to calculate body mass index is as follows: “Body Mass Index (BMI) = Body Weight (kg.) / Height squared (m.)”. The pre-service teachers’ responses to the questionnaire items were entered into the computer in a suitable format and then their analysis was conducted by calculating percentages (%) and frequencies (N) and running t-test and Chi-square test and then the results were interpreted. Significance level for the correlations was set to be 0.05. While there is no connection between the consumption of grain products including carbohydrates providing a large amount of the daily energy need of the body and gender, in terms of the consumption of fruit and vegetables and meat-dairy products, there is a correlation in favor of the male pre-service teachers.Racetteet al., (2005) conducted a study on 764 university students and reported that gender affects eating habits. Female students consume more fatty foods than male students but their fruit and vegetables consumption is similar. It was found that there is a correlation between the pre-service teachers’ frequency of consuming the fruit and vegetables and meat-dairy products required for adequate and balanced eating and place of residence in favor of the pre-service teachers living with their parents. Of the pre-service teachers participating in the current study, 568 (64%) have a “normal”, 193 (22.8%) have a “low”, 32 (3.8%) have a “medium” BMI value. BMI values were not calculated for 17(2%) preservice teachers who did not indicate their heights and weights that are necessary to calculate BMI values.According to the data reported by The Turkish Statistical Institute Health Survey (TÜİK, 2012), 17.2% of the Turkish population is obese, 34.8% is overweight, 44.2% is normal weight and 3.9% is thin. It was found that there is no correlation between BMI values and the frequency of consuming fruit and vegetables and meat-dairy products necessary for adequate and balanced eating.Özgün-Başıbüyük and Akın (2007) found that women have higher BMI values than men. When our data related to BMI values and frequency of consuming food items are examined, it is seen that the pre-service teachers consuming more meat-dairy products than grain products and fruit and vegetables have medium or high BMI values. A correlation was found between water consumption and gender in favor the male students. No significant correlation was found between the pre-service teachers’ water consumption and place of residence. No significant correlation was found between the pre-service teachers’ water consumption and BMI values. In this regard, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers’ state of adequate and balanced eating habits is at the medium level and state of water consumption is at the low level.In light of the findings of the study, the following suggestions were made. 1. In the study, a result was found that male students consume more fruit and vegetables, and meat-dairy products than female students.In this regard, given that the female students might be more concerned about their weight and therefore prone to go on a diet, the female students should be better informed about eating and dieting.2. The study revealed that living with the family has positive contributions to the development of healthy eating habits; therefore, students staying in different places of residence should be informed about how to feed themselves as if they were living with a family. 3. It was found that many students stay in dormitories and are at the medium level in terms of adequate and balanced eating. This may indicate that foods offered in dormitories are not suitable for adequate and balanced eating; therefore, more healthy foods to raise students’ adequate and balanced eating level to the level of “good” should be provided in dormitories. 4. The pre-service teachers consuming more meat-dairy products than grain products were found to have higher BMI values. Thus, the students should be informed about the ideal amounts of food items to be consumed from the healthy eating pyramid. 5. The pre-service teachers’ water consumption level was found to be low. Therefore, the pre-service teachers should be informed about the relationship between healthy body and water consumption.