Nutrition literacy and related factors among primary and secondary school teachers in Corum province

This study was conducted to examine nutrition literacy and related factors in primary and secondary school teachers in Corum province. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out between September 2019 and March 2020 with the participation of 775 teachers. The questionnaire used in collecting the data of the research includes the information form of the participants and the Adult Nutrition Literacy Assessment Tool. The data of the research were collected via SPSS 20.0 package program. Percentage, average, Chi-square test, and Binary logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the data. In evaluations, p<0.05 value was considered statistically significant. Approval for the implementation of the research was obtained from the Hitit University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee. The average age of the research group is 43,6 ± 8,0 years, 52,1% are male and 38,8% are high school teachers. The average of the points received by teachers from the overall scale is 25,1 ± 2,8, and the rate of those with adequate nutritional literacy is 78,2%. In the study group, the rate of those with adequate nutritional literacy is 44,7% in the 35-44 age group, while it is 6,5% in the 55 years and older group (p <0.01). Adequate nutritional literacy rate is 52.8% in women and 47,2% in men (p <0.01). Nutritional literacy level was found to be significantly higher in those with nuclear family structure, those who evaluate their health well in general and who have normal body mass index, and those with a seniority period of 10-19 years (p <0.05). The proportion of those with adequate nutritional literacy was higher in those with daily water consumption of eight glasses or more, those who do not consume fast-food frequently, those who prefer low-salt foods, and those who pay attention to the brand and expiration date on the food label (p <0.05). According to the binary logistic regression analysis, gender and daily water consumption were factors associated with adequate nutritional literacy levels (p <0.05).