Orthorexia nervosa tendency among students of the department of nutrition and dietetics at a university in Istanbul

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine an orthorexia nervosa scale score for and evaluate orthorex-ic tendency among students of nutrition and dietetics according to various sociodemographic characteristics.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out in May and June of 2016 among 208 students in the nutri-tion and dietetics department at a university in Istanbul. After receiving the approval of the university ethics com-mittee, of a total of 300 students, 208 agreed to join the study. Participants completed a questionnaire related to individual characteristics and the ORTO-11 scale during a face-to-face interview. The ORTO-11 scale is a verified Turkish scoring system in which a low score indicates orthorexic tendency. The Mann-Whitney U test, independent samples t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and analysis of variance were used to assess the data. P