University students’ dietary practices and significations regarding their health perception: qualitative exploration of discourses

Abstract

Sedentary life is the origin of the appraisal of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which is an important Pubic health challenge for the future. Food behaviours may influence the occurrence of diabetes or high blood pressure. In this context, young adults studying at the university (18 to 26 years old) are a specific “in between†vulnerable population. They gain some autonomy but are keeping their families’ habits. They are tempted by new (and sometimes unhealthy) food behaviours. Meanwhile, they develop their personal food conducts in a stressful context. The present study aims to explore university students’ dietary practices and significations regarding their health perception. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 138 Bachelor students and analysed with a thematic content analysis of discourses. As results, after coders’ agreement, we can assess five themes: Food and health: physical wellness; Studies: life breakdowns and schedules; Social relationships: sharing and support; Lay knowledge and information; Context constraints: food location and lack of money. Results show that students want to overcome learning difficulties thanks to the pleasure of eating healthy and cheap food in good company that make them fit for studying. They have a good knowledge about diet and aspire to be actors in their food choice. To solve the paradox of knowing the health promotion messages and not practising them, they create their personal balance. Concerning Public Health systems, these results advocate in favour of taking more into account the next generation food and diet representations and knowledge in order to better target health promotion messages