Browsing by Subject "ruokataju"

Aims. The purpose of this study was to find out the food choices related to the main meal of the day for the elderly, what factors can be found in the background of the choices, and the attitude of the elderly towards counseling related to food choices. The theoretical framework is based on previous research on food choice, aging and nutrition in the elderly. The concept of food sense is used in the study as one of the supporting concepts of the analysis, and the research questions have been guided by Belasco's (2008) food choice triangle, where the concepts are identity, responsibility and suitability. The main questions of the study are: 1. What food choices do seniors make with the main meal of the day? 2. How do older people justify their food choices? 3. How do older people experience food counseling? Methods. The data were collected by interviewing six retirees over the age of 65. Participants in the study prepared their own meals for the day and independently took care of arranging their own food supply and purchasing food supplies. Two of the participants in the study were men and four were women, among them one couple. The research material was analyzed using the content analysis of the qualitative research. Results and conclusion. The food choices of the main meal of the day were influenced by taste, health, price and reasonableness. The food that was prepared was traditional home cooking. The food was prepared by the participants themselves, and decisions on food choices were made independently by the participants, taking into account general food recommendations and their own state of health. The factors explaining the food choices were one's own taste preferences, the utilization of seasonal raw materials and the suitability of the raw materials for one's own diet. There was not perceived a need for actual nutrition counseling. Information coming through the media was perceived as contradictory and confusing.

Childrens and adolescents relationship with food can be supported in various pedagogical methods. Previous research suggests that childrens and adolescents relationship with food can be supported by positive interaction and by emphasizing the pleasurable aspect of eating. The suggested approach can be understood with food and eating relationship framework. The framework is developed by Talvia and Anglé (2018), whose aim is to guide educators on how to fulfil the food and nutrition educational needs of putting the diverse relationship with food and eating into practice. In this study the food and eating relationship framework is applied to home economics teachers perceptions on supporting pupils’ relationship with food. The theoretical framework of this study is based on previous research of food education and attitudes towards food. Previous research takes place on the fields of nutritional science and home economics. A qualitative research was utilized in this study. The data consists of six virtual interviews of home economics teachers. Teachers expressions that are associated with supporting pupils’ relationship with food and eating were first separated from the data. The expressions were analysed and categorized with content analysis methods. The analysis yielded four main categories of which represent home economics teachers perceptions on how to support pupils’ relationship with food. The main categories are offering mental support for the pupil, utilizing positive pedagogy in teaching, creating a safe atmosphere in the learning environment and increasing pupils’ knowledge on the impacts of food and eating. In this study the home economics teachers experience that they can support pupils’ relationship with food in various pedagogical means. According to the results, home economics teachers find both teachers and peers contribution being a meaningful part of supporting pupils’ relationship with food. Both teachers and peers are expected to accept and allow different relationships with food and eating. The whole group is expected to offer mental support for peers and teachers find guiding pupils towards this as their task. Results suggest that home economics teachers find pedagogical skills even more important than home economics skills when the aim is to support pupils’ relationship with food and eating. Area for further research would be how the teachers pedagogical skills promote pupils’ relationship with food and eating.

The aim of the study was to examine the views of home economics teachers on the use of school meals as part of home economics education. The study explored the opportunities and barriers that home economics teachers perceived in the teaching of home economics linked to school meals. Also of interest were the views of home economics teachers on the common themes and objectives of home and school meals. Previous research has shown that school meals and home economics education have similar objectives, for example in terms of food and sustainability education. It is therefore necessary to deepen our understanding of the potential for this kind of cooperation in the field of growth. The theoretical background of the study is based on the concept of food education, as previous research has argued that it can be used to structure the ways in which food education can be implemented. In this study, the concept of food sense was used to support the analysis. The levels of food sense were used to clarify the views of home economics teachers on the use of school food themes in their teaching. The data for the study was collected through five paired interviews, i.e. a total of ten home economics teachers participated in the study. The interviews were conducted remotely in Zoom. The data were analysed using data and theory-based content analysis. The home economics teachers perceived school meals and home economics education as combining activities such as encouraging sustainable and healthy eating habits, practising interaction skills and learning about food cultures. In their view, school meals can be used as part of the home economics curriculum, for example by commissioning school food surveys, participating in projects or competitions, designing posters, running food councils and discussing related topics with pupils. The obstacles to the implementation of home economics education linked to school meals perceived by teachers included time constraints, the activities of the catering services and the existence of teaching documents. Better integration of school meals into education would require systemic and institutional changes, in particular. In order to support the development of food sense in home education, further research on the learning process for food sense in the context of home education should be carried out.

Aims. This thesis discusses the possibilities of participative and action-based food education in home economics education and school mealtimes in comprehensive schools. The aim of this thesis is to discuss how the co-operation and combining of home economics teaching and school lunches can assist in reaching the goals of food education, such as the development of food sense. The study is based on previous research within food education, school lunches and student participation, as well as the national documents for steering education. School mealtimes as situations for formal learning are not vastly studied in Finland. The aim of the participative food education is to help students reach significant goals of well-being and lifelong learning, as well as increase the number of students who eat diversely. Methods. The data were gathered with half-structured thematic interviews. The individual interviews took place in three schools in Helsinki. In each school, either home economics teachers, school catering staff, or both, were interviewed. In total, there were six informants and the interviews were 17-35 minutes. These interviews produced 62 sheets of literal transcriptions. The data is analyzed thematically. The results were interpreted with the help of the definition participation and participativeness (Niemi et al. 2018) and the three-level model of food sense (Janhonen et al. 2018). Results and conclusions. Three main themes were found in the analysis: the educational potential of school lunches, student-led development and inclusion, and school’s adults as enablers of food educational cooperation. The interviewees’ degree of self-awareness of their role as food educators was found to be an important factor behind formal food education. Co-operational food education benefits from the recognition of participation as an aim of pedagogical activities. In addition, different co-operative projects, school celebrations, themes connected with sustainable development, and including students as responsible participants help the co-operation. On the other hand, lack of resources, fragmented nature of employment tasks and schools catering staff’s shortage of education in (food)education prevented the co-operation in this study. The study implies that educational aims midst school lunches are not systematic nor target-oriented, at least as co-operative effort since they lack both resources and action plans on the school level. Utilizing the three-level model of food sense in the evaluation of the realization of food education showed that in the context of formal schooling, the structural changes in methods are challenging to execute or achieved without the support and commitment of school’s adults. This study concludes that the development of formal food education to become more participative demands expertise and time, as well as school’s food educators’ personal passion and interest in the matter.