Research Information System
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, vol.4, no.14, pp.204-212, 2017 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Background. Prisoners and convicts are deprived of important aspects of health
promotion, health education and disease prevention and tend to have poorer health
status in comparison to the general public. Objective. This study was planned to
determine the level of nutritional knowledge of adult prisoners in Amasya E Type
Closed Penal Institution, and to understand the training requirements for these
individuals. Methods. The questionnaire aimed to measure nutrition knowledge levels
were administered to 200 individuals between April 2014 and March 2015, by means
of face-to-face interview. Results. Of the prisoners 76,5% stated that they had not
undertaken any kind of training during their stay and 85,4% acknowledged that the
trainings that they had undergone were from non-health related fields. Half of the
participants mentioned that they obtained nutrition related knowledge from the mass
media such as newspapers, TV and internet. Regarding nutrition related questions, less
than 50% of the participants provided correct answers for food sources of nutrients.
Rate of correct responses for nutrition and health related questions were also found to
be low. Conclusion. In general the nutrition knowledge level of the prisoners were
found to be incorrect or limited. It was suggested that nutriton and health related
trainings were to be organized at regular intervals to increase the awareness and to
improve food habits of the individuals.