Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nutrition knowledge of day-care center teachers and their guidance activities during meal time. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 302 day care center teachers from September to November, 2004. The average score of nutrition knowledge was $12.9\pm2.3$ out of possible 20 points. As the teachers older(p<0.01) and the teaching careers longer(p<0.05), the scores of the nutrition knowledge was significantly higher. Those who had dietitian license showed significantly higher scores than others(p<0.01). Guidance activities during meal time were evaluated by the 5-point Likert scale on 24 items and the average score turned out to be $4.3\pm0.4$. The score showed significant difference only according to the length of the teaching career(p<0.05). These findings suggested that nutritional guidance and nutrition education program for day care center teachers should be developed so that they can effectively manage meal service and provide good nutrition for young children.

Keywords

• Nutrition knowledge;
• meal time guidance;
• day care center teachers