THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND FOOD CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR AMONG HEALTH SCIENCE STUDENTS AT SISAKET RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise, partly driven by the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among university students, with poor food consumption habits identified as a critical associated factor. This study aimed to examine the levels of knowledge, attitude, and food consumption behaviors, and to investigate the relationships between these variables among Health Science students at Sisaket Rajabhat University. Data were collected from 167 participants via an online questionnaire (Google Forms) between October and November 2024. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The relationships between variables were analyzed using Pearson’s product-moment correlation and Spearman’s rank-order correlation at a significance level of 0.05. The findings revealed that the participants possessed a high level of knowledge (79.0%) and a high level of attitude (74.9%), whereas their food consumption behavior was at a moderate level (59.9%). A very low negative correlation was found between knowledge and food consumption behavior (r = -0.16, p = 0.03), while a low positive correlation was observed between attitude and food consumption behavior (r = 0.37, p < 0.001). These results suggest that producing graduates through knowledge dissemination alone may be insufficient to establish good consumption behaviors. Therefore, university executives or instructors should integrate health-promoting activities with academic instruction to foster positive attitudes alongside knowledge acquisition.