P022 A Qualitative Study on the Impact of COVID-19 on Dietary Behaviors in College Students
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ABSTRACT: Background
Prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many college students reported unhealthy dietary patterns, including low fruit and vegetable consumption and high intakes of processed foods. The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic in March 2020, resulting in universities closing. Students adopted new routines due to the stay-at-home orders, which resulted in changes in dietary behaviors. Objective
This study sought to explore the impact of COVID-19 on college students’ dietary behaviors. Study Design/Settings/Participants
This qualitative study utilized a total of 12 individual interviews, which were conducted with college students at a university in the southeastern region of the United States. Measurable Outcome/Analysis
Changes in dietary habits were identified through content analysis. Results
College students in quarantine experienced both positive and negative changes in dietary habits. Negative impacts resulting from isolation included increased unhealthy food choices and increased boredom snacking. External factors also played a role in dietary habits, due to lack of availability of healthy and fresh grocery items, which stemmed from limited grocery store access, fewer trips, and supply shortages. However, quarantine also led to positive dietary changes as well. Many individuals increased their consumption of home-cooked meals, due to increased time to cook, resulting in reduced consumption of fast food. They also had increased control over food choices due to cooking. Conclusions
Information gathered about students’ experiences during quarantine can be utilized to create targeted nutrition education focusing on coping mechanisms to decrease unhealthy food consumption and utilization of frozen and canned foods in healthy recipes. Funding
None
SUBMITTER: Jung S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9260002 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Given the recognized importance of preventing poor dietary behaviors during adolescence, we need a better understanding of college students' dietary behaviors. Studies have found that individual factors and electronic health (eHealth) literacy may affect one's dietary behaviors. However, few studies have fully investigated the effect of the three levels of eHealth literacy (functional, interactive, and critical) and the interactive effect of individual factors (eg, gender, monthly expenses, and frequency of cooking) and the three levels of eHealth literacy on the four aspects of dietary behaviors (consumer health, balanced diet, regular eating habits, and unhealthy food intake). OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to investigate whether individual differences and higher eHealth literacy are associated with more positive dietary behaviors and less unhealthy dietary intake. METHODS:The eHealth Literacy Scale is a 12-item instrument designed to measure college students' functional, interactive, and critical eHealth literacy. The Dietary Behaviors Scale is a 14-item instrument developed to measure four aspects of dietary behaviors of college students. A questionnaire was administered to collect background information about participants' gender, monthly expenses, and frequency of cooking. A national sample of college students was surveyed, and 813 responses were obtained. We conducted a multiple regression analysis to examine the association among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and dietary behaviors. RESULTS:This study found that functional eHealth literacy was negatively related to unhealthy food intake (beta=-.11; P=.01), and interactive eHealth literacy was positively related to balanced diet (beta=.25; P<.001) and consumer health (beta=.15; P=.02). Moreover, critical eHealth literacy was positively related to consumer health (beta=.30; P<.001) and regular eating habits (beta=.20; P=.002). Finally, the interactive effect between gender and interactive eHealth literacy was negatively related to balanced diet (beta=-.22; P<.001). The interactive effect between monthly expenses and functional eHealth literacy was positively related to balanced diet (beta=.07; P=.03), although the interactive effect between monthly expenses and critical eHealth literacy was negatively related to balanced diet (beta=-.10; P=.047). CONCLUSIONS:This study showed that Taiwanese college students with higher functional eHealth literacy were more likely to engage in fewer unhealthy food consumption practices. Those who had higher interactive and critical eHealth literacy were more likely to engage in positive dietary behaviors than those with functional eHealth literacy. Surprisingly, females with high interactive eHealth literacy were more likely to have a poor balanced diet. In contrast, students with higher monthly expenses and higher functional eHealth literacy were more likely to have a balanced diet. However, students with higher monthly expenses and higher critical eHealth literacy were less likely to maintain a balanced diet.
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2016-08-01 | GSE80559 | GEO
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2016-08-01 | E-GEOD-80559 | biostudies-arrayexpress
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