Food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among nursing students: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction: Food borne illness is a global public health concern. Food preparation classes are not often part of basic educational curricula. As a developing global problem, food safety significantly affects public health worldwide.

Objective: the objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to food safety among nursing students.

Materials and methods: A Cross-Sectional Survey was applied to 105 undergraduate nursing students. Population selected for this survey was students from nursing college in AIIMS New Delhi. Convenient sampling technique was adopted to enroll the subjects. A semi structured tool was developed and validated to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards food and safety. Tool consists of 4 sections pertaining to demographic characteristics, knowledge, and attitude and practice assessment.

Result: Students had good knowledge regarding food safety with mean knowledge score 13.35 and SD ±3.09. They were having good practice with mean score 7.32 and SD ±2.49. There was significant correlation between knowledge and practice (p 0.00, r=0.455). Attitude score was 26.40 (SD±13.36) with minimum 15 and maximum 75. Attitude showed negative relation(r=-0.372) to knowledge and practice. Between the group knowledge was significant (p=0.025).

Conclusion: It should be emphasized that all colleges should include food safety in their curriculums to enhance their knowledge to change their eating habits healthy. The students should be motivated to improve their attitude towards food and food safety through various means to bring about the changes in the behavior.