Antecedent Factors Influencing Students Usage of Food Servicescapes in Colleges of Education in Ghana. A Case Study among Female Students of Presbyterian Women’s College of Education, Aburi

Abstract: Introduction:Regular usage of food servicescapes (popularly refers to as dining halls in colleges of education)have been found to be crucial to students’ health and academic performance as it promotes effective defense against food and water-borne diseases as well as environmental contaminants. Suprisingly, students of College of Education eat food served in the dining hall outside the hall. This behaviourcan be detrimental to their health and academic work. Objective:The objective of this study is to explore the antecedent factors influencing students to eat the dining hall food outside the servicescapesand discuss potential interventions to address existing barriers to regular usage of the food servicescapes. Method:Self-reported data were collected from 257 female students using mixed methods—questionnaires, focus group discussion, interview, and checklist observation. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Square test, students t-test and ANOVA test were applied to the data to ascertain if there are significant differences in reasons why students eat their food outside the servicescapes. Results:Theresults of the study showed that students attitudes, subjective norms, cultural beliefs, poor taste of foods and inadequate foods served in the hall coupled with the absence of handwashing kits constitute the most important reasons why they eat food served in the dining hall outside the hall. Interestingly, Chi-Square test indicated statistically significant association between these reasons cited by students foreating food served in the dining hall outside the hall (χ = 54.721, df = 14, p <0.05).A student t-test further revealedstatistically significant difference between the mean reasons why students eat food served in the dining hall outside the hall (t=51.820, df=665, mean difference=8.423, p< 0.05).Conclusion:Taken together, these results provides important insights into the reasons why students eat food served in the dininh hall outside the hall.Recommendation:The study recommendeds that management should ensure that the quality and quantity of food served in the dining hall meet students tastes and preferences. They should also provide handwashing kits in the dining hall for sudents use to safeguard infection of water and food borne diseases.
Keywords:Colleges of Education; food servicescape;students usage;barriers