Evaluation of teachers' fat phobia levels and healthy lifestyle behaviors

Tansu Tuğcu, Evaluation of Teachers' Fat Phobia Levels and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors. Yeditepe University Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, MSc Thesis, İstanbul, 2022. This research was carried out with 136 teachers between October 2021 and November 2021 on teachers teaching students aged 7-17 in a private educational institution, in order to evaluate teachers' fat phobic attitudes and healthy lifestyle behaviors. The study was carried out on 121 female and 15 male participants, aged between 18-57, who gave education in Bursa Private Emine Örnek Educational Institutions after the ethics committee approval. An online questionnaire including sociodemographic information, height and weight, fat-phobia scale, and healthy lifestyle behaviors scale was applied to the participants. 91.9% of the teachers were found to be fat phobic. The total scores of healthy lifestyle behaviors and the scores of the fat phobic teachers in the interpersonal relationships and stress management sub-dimensions of this scale were found to be statistically significantly lower (p< 0.05). Considering that interpersonal relationships and stress management behaviors have an impact on the development of fat phobia, it has been concluded that teachers should receive more training in this area and that it is possible to raise children and adolescents in a non-fat phobic environment. Keywords: Fat phobia, Weight bias, Healthy Lifestyle, Teachers