Journal List > Korean J Community Nutr > v.17(2) > 1038351

Cho, Kwon, Lee, and Yoon: School Dietitians' Satisfaction with and Needs for School Meal Service Support Centers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate school dietitians' satisfaction with and needs for School Meal Service Support Centers. A web-based on-line survey was conducted with 1,102 nutrition teachers or school dietitians using four School Meal Service Support Centers during the summer of 2011. The data from 578 respondents (52.5%), consisting of 165 (44.4%), 334 (53.4%), 41 (67.2%), and 38 (86.4%) dietitians using Seoul, Gyeonggi, Suncheon and Gyeongju centers, respectively, were analyzed. The main reason for using the centers was subsidies from local governments. The dietitians using the metropolitan centers, which were Seoul and Gyeonggi centers, tended to buy agricultural products through the centers only, and those using local centers, which were Suncehon and Gyeongju centers, bought those products from the private suppliers as well as from the centers. The dietitians' overall level of satisfaction with the centers was not high showing 3.3 out of 5 points; it was significantly associated with the operating system and services of the centers such as system efficiency, delivery accuracy, communication, and information provision rather than the agricultural products provided by the centers. The dietitians preferred joint operation of the centers by local governments and producers' groups. They wanted School Meal Service Support Centers to be evaluated every year. It was suggested that efforts should be made to improve the operation system and service of School Meal Service Support Centers for improving dietitians' satisfaction with the centers. In addition, an evaluation system for School Meal Service Support Centers should be implemented soon based on school dietitians' needs.

Figures and Tables

Table 1
General characteristics of School Meal Service Support Centers included in this study
kjcn-17-194-i001
Table 2
General characteristics of responding dietitians and their schools
kjcn-17-194-i002

1) By chi-square test, 2) Including money payed by students and supported by local governments

Table 3
Dietitians' use of School Meal Service Support Centers
kjcn-17-194-i003

1) By chi-square test

2) Including "Publicness of the center due to supervision of local governments" 38 (6.6%), "Contribution to local agricultural development & environmental preservation" 20 (3.5%), "High quality of agricultural products" 18 (3.1%), etc.

3) Including 8 (21.1%) dietitians having responded "Contribution to local agricultural development & environmental preservation"

Table 4
Dietitians' level of satisfaction with School Meal Service Support Centers1)
kjcn-17-194-i004

1) 1 point for very unsatisfied, 2 points for unsatisfied, 3 points for neutral, 4 points for satisfied, and 5 points for very satisfied

2) By one-way ANOVA

abc: Different superscript letters in the same row mean significant difference among groups by Duncan's multiple range test at α = 0.05.

Table 5
Factors affecting dietitians' overall satisfaction with School Meal Service Support Centers
kjcn-17-194-i005

n = 578, F = 99.19 (p < 0.001), R2 = 0.85, adjusted R2 = 0.72

Table 6
Dietitians' needs regarding operation of School Meal Service Support Centers
kjcn-17-194-i006

1) By chi-square test

Table 7
Dietitians' needs regarding evaluation of School Meal Service Support Centers
kjcn-17-194-i007

1) By chi-square test

Notes

This study was supported by a reserach fund from the Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University.

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