Awareness of Medical Students of Gonabad University About Nutrition and Food Preservation in Disasters

Background: Healthy and hygienic foods should be available for healthy life of humans in all circumstances. This issue will be more important when a disaster occurrs. Iran is among high risk natural disaster countries, that should be always prepared. The present study aimed to evaluate the awareness of Gonabad University Medical students about nutrition and food preservation at times of disaster. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted on 360 students out of 1800 Medical Sciences students of Gonabad University who were selected by stratified random sampling method in 2016. A self-designed questionnaire consisting of 10 questions with acceptable validity and reliability was used with Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.8. Finally, the data were analyzed by 1-sample t-test and Mann -Whitney test through SPSS 16. Results: The results showed that 39%, 35.5%, and 25.5% of the participants had a good, moderate, and low level of awareness about nutrition and preservation in disasters, respectively. No significant difference was observed between genders (P>0.05), and fields of study with regard to their awareness (P=0.002). Conclusion: It was found that the students' awareness about nutrition and food preservation at times of disaster was poor. Thus, to achieve a successful disaster management, it is recommended that an appropriate instruction manual of nutrition and food preservation be prepared by disaster response agencies and be taught for the guidance of students.