The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in students' disaster-related knowledge and stockpiling behaviors before and after Comprehensive Practicum on nutrition assistance providing hot meals to support victims in times of disaster in the fourth year of the registered dietitian training course. A self-administered, twotime anonymous questionnaire was administered to 33 fourth-year students in the dietitian training course (education group) at the University of O in April 2018, before the exercise, and in December after the exercise. 140 registered dietetic students from other four public universities acted as the control group by completing the same pre- and post-surveys at the same time for comparison with the education group. In the education group, there was improvement in the knowledge about nutrition assistance in times of disasters (such as nutrient reference values in evacuation centers, allocation of registered dietitians to disaster areas, the rolling-stock method and the required amount of water for storage per person a day). The number of students who took action to stockpile increased after the exercise, while no changes were observed in the control group in knowledge nor behavior. It can be inferred that the differences in the content of education on disasters at each university and the presence or absence of disaster experience affect knowledge and stockpiling behavior.

View full abstract