ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine the effect of social isolation during COVID-19 pandemic on nutrition and exercise behaviors of nursing students. This descriptive study was conducted with nursing students of a university in eastern Turkey. The sample of the study consisted of 1,011 nursing students. The data were collected via e-mail using the Questionnaire of Descriptive Characteristics and the Nutrition Exercise Behavior Scale. Nutrition and exercise behaviors were affected by lockdown. During lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly half of students (46.9%) gained weight, and the majority (56.7%) did not exercise regularly. A statistically significant difference was found between the students’ psychological/addictive eating behavior and unhealthy nutrition-exercise behavior subscales mean scores according to change in body weight, most intense emotion, status of currently doing regular exercise (p < .001), gender, frequency of eating and status of doing regular exercise before COVID-19 pandemic (p < .05). It is recommended to prepare informative guidelines and educate individuals about dietary habits, meal schedules, regular exercise, and healthy nutrition.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the participants who agreed to participate in the study.
Author contributions
Study design: G.Ö., S.P.K
Data collection: G.Ö.
Data analysis: G.Ö.
Manuscript writing: S.P.K., G.Ö.
Disclosure statement
The authors declared no potential conflict of interests with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this paper.