Behavior Development Training for Sustainable Nutrition

The European Federation of Dietetic Associations (EFAD) recommends sustainable nutrition to create healthy societies. Sustainable nutrition models include the Mediterranean diet, vegetarian and vegan diets, the double pyramid model, and the Scandinavian diet. The dilemma of food loss, waste, and hunger is one of the significant paradoxical problems faced in today's world. Food waste and wastage can become an environmental and economic problem if not managed properly. It is stated that the difficulties in accessing animal protein will increase daily due to the increasing and continuing global population and negative environmental impacts. A literature review revealed the lack of a randomized controlled trial on behavioral education for sustainable nutrition among university students. This study aims to educate Nutrition and Dietetics students about sustainable nutrition, food waste, and waste, to translate the information provided to students into behavioral behavior, and to contribute to the literature in this field. In this randomized controlled experimental study, the "Sustainable Nutritional Behavior Development Scale" and the "Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale" will be administered face-to-face to healthy students actively studying in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University's Faculty of Health Sciences, and their scores will be calculated. Following the initial data collection process, students assigned to the experimental group will receive a 12-week training program based on the knowledge-attitude-behavior model (Bettinghaus, 1986). Students will be included in the Sustainable Nutritional Behavior Development Training Program, while the control group will not receive any intervention. After data collection, in accordance with ethical principles, students in the control group will receive the same training as students in the experimental group. The collected study data will be analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical analysi