NUTRITIONAL EDUCATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: A HEALTHY EXPERIENCE WITH ECTS CREDITS

Promoting healthy living habits is a complex task, especially at the university stage where young people are too busy to learn to cook or do physical exercise. Establishing a healthy dietary model among young people is vital and, in view of the lack of time, the possibility to earn ECTS credits in their degree with courses on health issues is a tremendous opportunity that the University can provide.

With a view to promote healthy dietary habits among the university population, the course entitled “Nutritional Education for the University student” was conducted at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Granada, with 2 ECTS credits acknowledged by said University. This course was followed by 34 university students (13 male aged 22.8+ 2.8, and 21 female students aged 23.9+ 4.1), during which they filled in a series of surveys in which we evaluated the interest of each participant, the publicity media used, the university qualification being followed, level of knowledge and eating habits. Each participant signed an informed consent document and the data were analysed with the SPSS 20.0 statistical programme, with a level of statistical significance of 0.5%.

According to the results, we found that in terms of the publicity media used, 50% were informed through other people, 29.4% through posters placed in the Faculty where the course was to be given, 14.7% through social networks and 5.9% through looking for ECTS courses on the University of Granada website. As far as the motive for taking an interest in the course was concerned, 38.2% indicated that the ECTS credits were their only reason, while the rest (61.8%) stated having a personal interest in the subject matter took the credits as an added interest (p = 0.008). Students were following different qualifications: Pharmacy (44.1%, Environmental Sciences (23.5%), Administration and Company Management (17.6%, Sports Sciences (11.8%) and History (2.9%). At the start of the course, 67.6% believed that they had prior knowledge and 64.7% stated that they eat healthy food, despite the fact that 100% viewed food as a key element for health. Those with personal interests in the course considered that they had more prior knowledge of nutrition than those who followed the course solely to earn credits, i.e., 85.7% as compared with 38.5% (p = 0.008).

Therefore, there are a variety of means of communication between university and students, although word of mouth appears to still be the most effective means. The majority of the participants were studying a degree in health (55.9%), which would have certainly influenced their interest in the course, but by participating, students from other fields show that this type of training can be of interest for students of any field. Since those with personal interests on the course were those who had more prior knowledge, it may be deduced that having a priori knowledge of the issue is motivation for following the course, more than a complete lack of knowledge.

In conclusion, the courses with ECTS credits are attractive for covering the training deficiencies of students, supplementing their knowledge in their field of study or getting to know in depth issues of personal interest that are even beneficial for their health. ECTS credits can be used to motivate the university population to train in subject matters that would contribute to their well-being and personal or professional development.