Home⇛Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives⇛vol. 4 no. 7 (2026)

Assessing the Alignment Between Food Preparation and Nutritional Awareness Among Senior High School Students: A Mixed-Method Study

Allynor Sakiral | Farwina Amlih | Al-fahad Jadjuli

Discipline: Nutrition and Dietetics

 

Abstract:

A disconnect may exist between students’ food-preparation competence and their ability to apply nutritional awareness to daily food choices. This study examined the food preparation skills and nutritional awareness of senior high school students at Hadji Butu School of Arts and Trades. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the study involved 150 students classified by sex, grade level, and strand. Quantitative data were collected through a 20-item nutritional awareness survey with high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .874) and a rubric-based assessment of food preparation skills. Qualitative data from focus group discussions were analyzed thematically. Results showed moderately high food preparation skills (M = 3.32) and high nutritional awareness (M = 3.46). Spearman’s correlation indicated a significant moderate positive relationship between the two variables (ρ = .387, p = .001), suggesting that practical cooking competence may support, but does not necessarily guarantee, nutritioninformed food choices. Qualitative findings showed that budget limitations, time constraints, family food practices, peer influence, food availability, and gaps in technical knowledge influenced students’ application of food knowledge. The findings highlight the need for TVL instruction to integrate cooking performance with nutrition reasoning, food safety, meal planning, budgeting, and context-based food decision-making.



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