A Survey for Needs and Preference of Food and Nutrition information on Mass Media for Korean Female Adults

Article information

Korean J Community Nutr. 2014;19(6):550-557

Publication date (electronic) : 2014 December 31

doi : https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2014.19.6.550

Jeong-Eun Kwak ¹^,^*, Seo-Yeon Lee ²^,^*, Sang-Hoon Lee ², Kwang Suk Ko ²

¹Graduate School of Clinical Health Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.

²Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kwang Suk Ko. Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womens Univerisity, Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-750, Korea. Tel: (02) 3277-6859, Fax: (02) 3277-2862, kko@ewha.ac.kr

^*The authors equally contributed to the research.

Received 2014 September 05; Revised 2014 December 19; Accepted 2014 December 30.

Abstract

Objectives

This study was conducted to examine the preferences and needs of typical Korean females adults for food and nutrition information provided by the mass media.

Methods

A total of 343 females (77 in their 20s, 85 in their 30s, 88 in their 40s and 93 in their 50s) residing in the Seoul/Gyeonggido area was surveyed on general characteristics, main sources of food and nutrition information and needs for sources and contents of nutrition information.

Results

The survey showed that typical Korean females obtained knowledge of food and nutrition mainly through the Internet (30.4%) and broadcasting (29.0%). Typical Korean females were interested in 'dietary management for weight control' (21.9%), 'the prevention and treatment of disease' (20.0%), 'food safety' (16.8%), 'proper dietary habits' (14.6%), 'cookery' (11.8%), 'functional foods' (9.6%), 'restaurant details' (3.5%) and 'life-cycle-specific dietary guideline' (1.6%). Needs for food and nutrition program forms on TV were 'educational programs' (34.3%), 'documentaries' (20.8), 'expert lecture-style' (13.0%), 'entertainment programs' (11.9%), 'expert conversation' (11.4%), 'news-style' (4.6%) and 'public campaign advertisements' (4.0%). On the Internet, 38.6% of the respondents preferred to get information provided by food and nutrition-related institutions (38.6%) while 26.1% preferred webtoons for nutritional information. The favored forms in mobile applications were 'monitoring their diets' (29.5%), 'data-based texts information' (21.4%), 'experts feedback' (20.6%), 'communities' (15.1%) and 'games' (13.1%). The rates of the preference to obtain information from experts such as nutritionists and dietitians and doctors - or dietitian turned reporters increased markedly with older ages.

Conclusions

Since the mass media is a main source of food and nutrition information for the general public, the effectiveness and accuracy of the information provided should be enhanced by taking the needs of the public into account. The quality of information should be improved by involving more nutrition experts.

Keywords: food nutrition information; mass media; information needs

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