Professor Eunju Park's Team at Gyeongnam National University Receives Academic Award at the Korean Society of Community Nutrition Fall Conference

Analysis of Motivations and Barriers to Educational Participation of Nutrition and Meal Service Managers in Elderly Welfare Facilities

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kang Woo-kwon] Professor Eunju Park's research team from the Department of Food and Nutrition at Gyeongnam National University received an academic award at the Korean Society of Community Nutrition Autumn Conference for their paper titled "Analysis of Educational Participation Motivation and Inhibiting Factors of Nutrition and Meal Service Managers in Elderly Welfare Facilities."

The co-authors of the paper include Professor Mina Lee from Kookmin University, Professors Woo-kyun Cho and Youngmi Lee from Gachon University. The paper addresses the rapid increase in the elderly population and focuses on improving the job competency and educational capacity of nutrition and meal service managers in elderly welfare facilities regarding elderly dietary management.

With the increasing demand for elderly welfare services covering various elderly issues such as caregiving burdens, housing, leisure, dementia care, and health promotion, the study focuses on the roles that nutrition and meal service managers in elderly welfare facilities should fulfill.

Professor Park's team emphasized in the paper that when developing educational programs for nutrition and meal service managers in elderly welfare facilities, it is essential to establish a communication network for mutual exchange among meal and nutrition managers. They also suggested that educational programs should focus on developing professional competencies to improve the quality of education.

They further stated, "By emphasizing the efficiency of opinion exchange through education and organizing practical competency enhancement programs for the elderly, participants' motivation will increase, and non-participation in education due to personal inhibitions such as lack of confidence will decrease."

Professor Eunju Park said, "Due to the increase in the elderly population, this research can serve as basic data for establishing customized educational strategies aimed at developing programs to enhance the job competency and educational capacity of nutrition and meal service managers in elderly welfare facilities to improve the quality of these facilities."