| Physical and mental health are intrinsically linked, and it is crucial for workers in the mental health field to understand the link between the two. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of nutrition knowledge in graduating Masters of Social Work students at Southern Connecticut State University, as well as their level of confidence in providing counseling in nutrition to potential clients. In this study, 32 graduating MSW students at SCSU completed the Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire. Results on the questionnaire were very low, with an average score of 35.31%, and participants averaged a moderate confidence level (three out of five, with five being the most confident) in terms of providing nutrition counseling to potential clients. However, because nutrition knowledge scores are so low, it is likely that the information the participants would provide could be inaccurate. The implications of these findings are that students may not be aware of the strong link between nutrition and mental health and may not know to counsel clients about this factor, or that students may provide inaccurate information to clients. Implications from this study, as well as data from participants, indicate that nutrition education should be included in some facet in the MSW curriculum in order to produce more educated, effective clinicians for the social work field. |
