DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i06.026

Pages: 2289-2297

The diet of many nurses does not conform to the recommended daily reference intake. Nurses tend to have numerous meals a day, frequently eat out, and do not exercise regularly; thus, they are likely to develop chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. This phenomenon, if being ignored, may have considerably negative effects on the nurses’ health in the long term. This study targeted nurses in a regional hospital in Southern Taiwan and aimed to understand their nutrition knowledge, nutrition attitude, and current dietary behavior and to investigate the factors that influence their dietary behavior. This study conducted a cross-sectional survey of the nurses in a regional hospital in Southern Taiwan from December 1, 2014 to February 28, 2015; 207 valid samples were obtained. The questionnaire of “A Study of Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude to Dietary Behavior among In-Service Student Nurses” was used in the present study. The results indicated that participants attained medium scores for nutrition knowledge and low scores for nutrition attitude and dietary behavior. A stepwise regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between the nutrition attitude and dietary behavior in nurses who did not do shiftwork, who worked in nursing homes or intensive care units, and who regularly read health magazines. The aforementioned variables were significant predictors of dietary behavior (p<0.05), explaining 46.6% of the total variance. In conclusion, the nurses’ nutrition attitude influenced their adoption of healthy dietary behaviors. Thus, hospitals should focus on developing a positive health-oriented attitude among nurses when promoting healthy dietary habits in the workplace.