Akzeptanz nachhaltiger Ernährung unter Jugendlichen am Beispiel der Planetary Health Diet

Abstract

The master’s thesis presented here aims to determine whether there is a difference
in the acceptance of sustainable nutrition among young people when the content is
taught in class or combined with practical implementation. The theoretical part of this
thesis is based on a scientific literature research that contains an explanation of the
concept of sustainable nutrition and the associated social changes. A central concept
in this is the reference diet of the Planetary Health Diet, which, unlike previous
sustainable concepts, does not ban certain food groups, but only recommends
modified amounts. The implementation of the empirical part of the acceptance study
took place at two vocational colleges in Austria. For this purpose, a controlled pilot
intervention study was designed in which one of the two school groups had to
practically carry out the Planetary Health Diet and the other group only received
theoretical information about it. It showed that theoretical instruction on this topic
does not lead to increased acceptance among students. Furthermore, it was found
that letting them do it practically for at least one day makes no difference. According
to another calculation result, however, it can be assumed that the longest possible
implementation of the Planetary Health Diet significantly improves sustainable
nutrition behavior. The minimum duration of a practical implementation would have
to be determined in further research work. It is important to simplify the methodology
of the practical implementation in order to encourage as many students as possible
to participate. As an example, a “ten rules version” was created in this work, which is
intended to significantly improve access and motivation for implementation in future
studies or teaching.