NUTRITION EDUCATION PRACTICES IN HEALTH TEACHERS FROM SHANGHAI K-12 SCHOOLS: THE CURRENT SITUATION, BARRIERS AND WILLINGNESS

Background and objectives: To investigate the current situation of health teachers performing nutrition education in Shanghai K-12 schools, and to determine the barriers and willingness of teaching nutrition in the classroom. Methods: A total of 904 health teachers from Shanghai K-12 schools was invited to fill out a Wechat-based questionnaire by investigating the current situation of teaching nutrition in the classroom, the barriers and resources of performing nutrition education, and the wiliness of performing future education on nutrition. The questionnaire were self-designed and validated. Logistic analysis was used to identify the factors influencing the education practices and willingness. Results: There are 722 (84.29%) health teachers currently teaching nutrition in the classroom. Among them, 532 (73.68%) teachers spent less than 1 hour to teach the class. Among the 182 teachers who did not teaching nutrition, 57 (31.32%) reporting that nutrition was not a required course by the school, 69 (37.91) reporting of willing to teach but lack of knowledge, and 17 (9.34) reporting of willing to teach but lack of support. There are 735 teachers willing to develop a future nutrition course, and 762 teachers willing to teach nutrition in other ways. Using the logistic models to identify the factors influencing whether or not teachers were currently teaching nutrition in the classroom, gender, age, school type, level of concerning about nutrition, and the level of received background on nutrition background were identified as significant factors. Using the logistic models to identify the factors influencing whether or not teachers were willing the teach future lessons on nutrition, location, school type, level of concerning about nutrition, and currently teaching nutrition lessons were identified as significant factors. Conclusions: Nutrition education in Shanghai K-12 schools is not sufficient.