EATING ATTITUDES, BODY PERCEPTION, SELF-ESTEEM AND RELATED FACTORS IN NURSING STUDENTS

Objectıves: The aim of this study was to evaluate eating attitudes, body image, self-esteem and related factors of female students studying in nursing department. Methods: The universe of the study was comprised of female students from the Nursing Department of Hacı Bektaş Veli University of Nevşehir (N = 324) and the study was completed with 181 people. Information Form, Eating Attitude Test, Body Perception Scale, Self-Esteem Scale were applied and height and weight information and body mass indexes were calculated according to the declarations of individuals. Results: While risk of eating disorder was 14.3% for students who perceived their bodies normal, this risk raised up to 83.3% in the students who perceived their bodies overweight. A positive strong correlation was determined between body image and self- esteem total scores of students. It was observed that 24.3% of the students had eating disorder risk, 30.9% had low body image, and 10.5% had low self-esteem. The differences between body mass index and body image of the students, between status of daily activity and risk of eating disorder, and between body image, smoking and alcohol use and eating disorder were found to be statistically significant. The correlation between methods of students to lose weight and eating disorder risk was statistically significant. There was a statistically significant correlation between self-esteem scale and the method of using weight loss drug (p 0.05). In the study, it was found that the relationship between parental education level and eating disorder was statistically significant and the incidence of eating disorders increased as the educational status of parents increased. Conclusion: In the study; the level of parental education, smoking-alcohol use, daily activity and the application of weight loss method and eating disorder; daily activity, weight related thinking and using herbal method between body perception; It was concluded that there was a statistically significant difference between self-esteem using the drug for attenuation.