Sustainability: Nutrition and Dietetic Students’ Perceptions

Sarah J Burkhart; Michele Verdonck; Theresa Ashford; Judith Maher

doi:10.3390/su12031072

Back

Sustainability: Nutrition and Dietetic Students’ Perceptions

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Sustainability: Nutrition and Dietetic Students’ Perceptions

Sarah J Burkhart, Michele Verdonck, Theresa Ashford and Judith Maher

Sustainability, Vol.12(3), 1072

2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031072

Files and links (2)

pdf

PDF - Published Version (Open Access)508.55 kBDownload View

Published VersionPDF - Published Version (Open Access)CC BY V4.0, Open Access

url

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031072View

Published Version

Abstract

undergraduate

sustainable development

environmental sustainability

social sustainability

economic sustainability

Australia

professional practice

Opportunities exist for nutrition and dietetic (N&D) professionals to contribute to sustainable development and support actions towards the attainment of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SGD's). Students undertaking higher education are well-placed to develop skills and capabilities in creative and critical problem solving for sustainability. However, there is limited literature exploring nutrition and dietetic students' perceptions of sustainability that would help to inform an e ective and constructively aligned embedding of sustainability content and active learning opportunities into curriculum. This descriptive cohort study design utilised a 17-question online survey to explore 95 Australian N&D undergraduate students' self-reported familiarity with and perceived importance of sustainability and related concepts, and view of sustainability for future practice. Participants reported being more familiar with the term environmental sustainability and related concepts than economic or social sustainability. Varying levels of familiarity of 42 sustainability related concepts within economic resilience, environmental integrity, social development and cross-cutting issues were reported. Most participants (82%, n = 78) reported sustainability was very important in general (82%, n = 78), and for professional practice (63%, n = 60). Over half of the participants identified government led initiatives to address the future of society (65%, n = 71). Our study highlights the complexity of sustainability in a discipline specific context and the need for understanding students' perceptions of sustainability to inform N&D curriculum design.

Details

Title: Sustainability: Nutrition and Dietetic Students’ Perceptions
Authors: Sarah J Burkhart (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - School of Health and Sport Sciences
Michele Verdonck (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - School of Health and Sport Sciences
Theresa Ashford (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - School of Health and Sport Sciences
Judith Maher (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - School of Social Sciences
Publication details: Sustainability, Vol.12(3), 1072; 9
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2020
DOI: 10.3390/su12031072
ISSN: 2071-1050
Copyright note: Copyright © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics; School of Health and Sport Sciences - Legacy; School of Health - Occupational Therapy; School of Law and Society; Centre for Bioinnovation; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450835002621
Output Type: Journal article