Opinions of Nutrition and Dietetics Students About Their Profession

Abstract

This study is planned and applied with the aim o f finding out opinions o f Başkent and Hacettepe University Nutrition and Dietetics students about their profession. Among students studying in the Nutrition and Dietetics Department, 272 students composed o f 19 male (7%) and 253 fem a le (93%) students are interviewed. Data is collected with the method o f face-to-face interview with a questionnaire o f 19 questions and evaluated with SPSS statistics program. 36.8% o f students (100 people) participated in this study is studying in Başkent University and 63.2% (172 pèople) is studying in Hacettepe University. The mean is 20.4±1.53 years. 83.1 % o f students choose this department, voluntarily. The distribution o f fields that students want to work after graduation is; 66.2%) prefer to work in private hospitals, 30.1 % prefer to work in state hospital, 23.5% prefers centers fo r Slimming Lenters. Students list the characteristic o f a dietitian: 26.8% a person with communication skills, 18% healthy and slim, and 22.1% self improving and reliable, 20.6% patient and understanding, 12.5% loving his jo b and helpful. 45.6% students involved in this survey state that the most important nutrition problem about Turkey is imbalanced nutrition, over consumption offast food. Whereas, 0.4% o f students state that there is not any nutritional problem in Turkey. When the findings o f this study are examined, girls are more interested in this profession. Students are knowledgeable about postgraduate studies, working fields and what characteristics their profession requires.