Health and Wellness Practices – Postgraduates and Staff

In April 2019, a web-based survey was emailed to all Trinity postgraduates and staff.  579 responded.  Details here.

• A quarter (24.8%) of the total sample reported that a usual day in work rarely or never enabled them to eat the way they wish to
• Barriers to enabling participants to eat as they wish to included a perceived lack of: campus facilities, variety of foods available, and time (Fig. 2)
• Importance of healthy eating was rated 65.9 ±20.9 on a scale of 0-100 (p=0.396)
• Cooking skills were rated an average of 65.7 ±21.0 on a scale of 0-100 (p=0.789)
• One in ten (11.6%) cooked with fresh ingredients less than once a week, with PG students less likely to cook with fresh ingredients (p=0.034)
• A majority (83.5%) ate while using a screen some, most, or every day (p=0.066)

The study concluded:

• Many of the perceived barriers to healthy eating were common for postgraduate students and staff
• Despite self-reporting moderate levels of cooking skills, the majority of participants do not cook with fresh ingredients every day
• Key issues that impede cooking and healthy eating were affordability of food and poor time-management
• University-based interventions aimed at improving food preparation skills, time management skills relating to food preparation, and self-efficacy skills should be explored