Brandão, Teresa R.S.

Costa, Sofia A

Lima, João P M

Rocha, Ada

English

Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa

 Type of submission: extended abstract  Mode of presentation: oral Perceived barriers for healthy eating by university employees at the workplace  João PM Lima1, 2, 3  , Sofia A Costa2, Teresa RS Brandão4, Ada Rocha 2,3   nutricionista.joaolima@gmail.com  +351 911 534 070 (1) Hotel and Tourism School of Coimbra (2) Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences - University of Porto - Portugal (3) LAQV@REQUIMTE (4) CBQF - Center for Biotechnology and Fine Chemicals - Associate Laboratory, School of Biotechnology, Catholic University of Portugal / Porto  Keywords: Obesity, barriers, eating eating, food environment, lifestyle.  Introduction The relationship between obesity, poor eating habits and low level of physical activity is largely recognized for a long time(1, 2). Because of drastic changes in the population's lifestyle in recent decades, it is remarkable the significant increase in the frequency of meals taken away from home. This tendency has been associated with an increase of high energy density meals and a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity and for this reason an increased risk of developing chronic diseases(3-6). Several studies concluded that individuals who identified a higher number of barriers for healthier eating habits correspond to those that have worse habits(1, 2). The main factors identified as barriers for healthy eating by consumers were lack of time, lack of cooking skills, food price or lack of healthy choices at food services units(1, 2, 7, 8). Meals eaten at the workplace represent a large contribution for daily energy intake and food pattern at the workplace influences the balance of the diet. The analysis of perceived barriers for healthier eating habits by workers is critical for the implementation and assessment of possible interventions in these scenarios. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived barriers for healthy eating at the workplace by workers of the largest university of north region of Portugal.  Methods A cross sectional observational study was conducted at the University of Porto. Data collection was performed during labor hours. Participants were randomly selected. Informed consent was obtained and the purpose of the study was individually explained. Data was obtained through the application of a self-administrated questionnaire. The questionnaire included socio-demographic questions and a list of barriers for healthy eating at the workplace. The barriers included in the questionnaire were identified on literature and others were added considering the perception of researchers. Respondents could selected as much options as they wish. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences® version 21.0 for Windows. Cut-off of 0.05 was used as the level of statistical significance.  Results There were assessed 533 individuals, and 510 valid answers were obtained. The majority of respondents were women (65.5%). Only 23.1% of respondents reported to follow an unhealthy diet at the workplace. When asked to point out the barriers for having a healthier diet, they referred mostly work commitments and lack of time (Figure 1).   Figure 1: Perceived barriers for healthy eating at the workplace  Males respondents identified the barrier for healthy eating "Lack of knowledge about nutrition / healthy eating" more frequently than women (p = 0.028) (table 1).   Table 1: Perceived barriers for healthy eating at the workplace by gender  Female (%) Male (%) p Dislike healthy food  7,3 3,7 0,365 Price of healthy foods  6,5 8,3 0,364 Lack of hability for preparing meals  8,9 10,2 0,453 Lack of knowledge about nutrition/ healthy eating  5,6 12,0 0,028 Distance for buying local food  1,6 5,6 0,057 Work commitments/ lack of time  32,3 22,2 0,203 Lack of storage facilities and food preparation at the workplace  8,9 5,6 0,496 Lack of healthy options for breakfast, lunch and dinner  16,9 19,4 0,245 Special nutritional needs  1,6 0,9 0,736 Lack of interest about this matter or subjet  3,2 4,6 0,423 Others  7,3 7,4 0,705  53.835.318.5 16.814.3 14.3 14.310.87.6 6.72.50102030405060Workcommitments/ lack of timeLack ofhealthyoptions forbreakfast,lunch anddinnerInability toprepare mealsLack ofknowledgeaboutnutrition /healthy eatingPrice ofhealthy foodsLack ofstoragefacilities andfoodpreparation atthe workplaceOther Not likehealthy foodThis subjectdoes notinterest me / Inever thoughtthis matterDistance tobuying localfoodSpecialnutritionalneeds%The educational level of respondents influenced their identification of the price as a determinant for having a healthier diet (p = 0.001), indicating that this is the most important factor for the less educated respondents. Comparing, academic either non-academic there were found significant differences for three distinct barriers. It seems that food price is a prohibitive factor for having a healthy diet, essentially for academic staff in relation to others individuals (p = 0.019). Also, the lack of areas to prepare and store food at the workplace was referred differently by non-academic staff (p = 0.002).  The lack of healthy options for breakfast, lunch and dinner was the last barrier identified as inhibitory factor, to practice a healthy eating at the workplace perceived significantly different by teachers (p = 0.013). (Table 3).  Table 3: Perceived barriers for healthy eating at the workplace by professional occupation   Academic (%) Non-academic (%) Academic and Non-Academic (%) p Dislike healthy food  3,5 6,6 10,0 0,412 Price of healthy foods  1,2 10,9 10,0 0,019 Lack of hability for preparing meals  7,1 10,9 10,0 0,618 Lack of knowledge about nutrition/ healthy eating  5,9 10,2 10,0 0,503 Distance for buying local food  5,9 2,2 0,0 0,261 Work commitments/ lack of time  32,9 24,8 20,0 0,174 Lack of storage facilities and food preparation at the workplace  5,9 6,6 30,0 0,002 Lack of healthy options for breakfast, lunch and dinner  25,9 14,6 0,0 0,013 Special nutritional needs  1,2 1,5 0,0 0,937 Lack of interest about this matter or subjet  5,9 2,9 0,0 0,415 Others  4,7 8,8 10,0 0,454  Concerning others parameters assessed, ranges of age, marital status and place of work did not seem to affect the barriers for adopting healthy eating at the workplace.  Discussion University workers, namely teachers, have a high level of work and responsibilities, most of them extra classes, which contributes to work commitments and lack of time to stop, prepare and have healthy meals. Attending to this concern, the availability of healthy options at the workplace, namely in cafeterias, is very important. Food availability at the workplace was not identified by workers as a barrier for healthy eating. This barrier was significantly more identified by academic staff than other respondents.  On the other hand, non-academics reported a higher concern, and identified it as a barrier, the lack or storage facilities and food preparation areas at the workplace. This parallelism on identified barriers could indicate that academics use more frequently university cafeterias and non-academics brought foods from home and use storage and preparation facilities when available at the workplace more frequently. These results are in line with the identification of a third barrier, significantly different between professional occupation. Effectively, non-academics identified more frequently the price of healthy food options as a barrier for healthy eating, contrary to academics. Differences on salary between them, could explain this result. The perception of these factors could influence the choice of place for having meals – cafeterias or storage and preparation facilities. Attending to the higher availability of information about healthy eating, it’s worrisome the number of respondents that identify as a barrier the lack of knowledge about nutrition or healthy eating. Men identified this barrier more frequently than women, which are in accordance with the results found by Yahia in university students(9). The inability to prepare meals was also identified as a barrier for healthy eating, reason for what cooking skills should be developed, namely included in school curriculum, once at the workplace, due to work commitments and lack of time, hardly it is possible improve them, contributing to adequacy of healthy eating. In accordance with other studies, only a proportion of respondents perceived barriers for adoption of a healthier lifestyle(7, 8), favoring the creation of an environment more propitious to the emergence of chronic diseases such as obesity(1). However, of all variables tested only the price factors and lack of knowledge about nutrition / healthy eating showed significant differences between respondents. Some studies have shown that people that identify a higher number of barriers are those that follow unhealthy eating habits(1, 2). This fact is reflected in low intake of fruit and vegetables and high consumption of sugary and high fat products (1, 2). More studies are necessary in order to realize in what extent these barriers affect the choice consumer’s, contributing to the development of new intervention strategies to the promotion of healthy habits.  Conclusion This work allowed to identify lack of time/work commitments and lack of healthy options for having meals at the workplace as main barriers for healthy eating, in general. The educational level, professional occupation and gender were the socio-economic characteristics evaluated that influenced the perception of barriers for healthy eating. Different strategies are needed for different target groups to reduce barriers once they are perceived differently for them.      References: 1. Mackenbach JD, Lakerveld J, Van Lenthe FJ, Teixeira PJ, Compernolle S, De Bourdeaudhuij I, et al. Interactions of individual perceived barriers and neighbourhood destinations with obesity-related behaviours in Europe. Obesity Reviews. 2016; 17:68-80. 2. Lara J, McCrum L-A, Mathers JC. Association of Mediterranean diet and other health behaviours with barriers to healthy eating and perceived health among British adults of retirement age. Maturitas. 2014; 79(3):292-98. 3. Orfanos P, Naska A, Trichopoulou A, Grioni S, Boer J, Van Bakel M, et al. Eating out of home: energy, macro-and micronutrient intakes in 10 European countries. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009; 63:S239-S62. 4. Edwards J. The foodservice industry: Eating out is more than just a meal. Food Quality and Preference. 2013; 27(2):223-29. 5. Ledikwe J, Ello-Martin JA, Rolls BJ. Portion sizes and the obesity epidemic. The Journal of nutrition. 2005; 135(4):905-09. 6. Glanz K, Basil M, Maibach E, Goldberg J, Snyder D. Why Americans eat what they do: taste, nutrition, cost, convenience, and weight control concerns as influences on food consumption. Journal of American Dietetic Association. 1998; 98(10):1118-26. 7. Kearney JM, McElhone S. Perceived barriers in trying to eat healthier – results of a pan-EU consumer attitudinal survey. British Journal of Nutrition. 2007; 81(S1):S133-S37. 8. de Mestral C, Stringhini S, Marques-Vidal P. Barriers to healthy eating in Switzerland: A nationwide study. Clinical Nutrition. 2016 9. Yahia N, Wang D, Rapley M, Dey R. Assessment of weight status, dietary habits and beliefs, physical activity, and nutritional knowledge among university students. Perspectives in Public Health. 2015  

Perceived barriers for healthy eating by university employees at the workplace

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Perceived barriers for healthy eating by university employees at the workplace

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