The Relationship Between Orthorexia Nervosa Tendencies, Eating Attitudes, and Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms of Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

At the start of university education, young people tend to disregard healthy eating recommendations, overeat or eat unhealthily, follow strict diets, and skip meals. For these reasons, eating disorders are more frequently observed among university students. This study was conducted to evaluate the orthorexic tendencies of nursing students and to determine the relationship between eating attitudes and obsessive symptoms. The study sample consisted of 209 nursing students. The Personal Information Form, Orthorexia Nervosa Scale, Eating Attitudes Test, and Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Questionnaire were administered by the researchers. Descriptive analyses, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, correlation, and regression analyses were used to evaluate the data. The mean scores for the ORTO-11 scale were 28.72±4.84; the YTT-26 scale was 8.51±8.20; and the MOKSL was 16.21±7.66. Evaluations based on the total scale scores revealed a negative, low-level, and significant correlation between ORTO-11 and YTT-26; a negative, moderate-level, and significant correlation between ORTO-11 and MOKSL; and a positive, low-level, and significant correlation between YTT-26 and MOKSL. This study, it was revealed that obsessive-compulsive habits and eating attitude disorder may affect orthorexia. Screening and early detection of eating disorders is important as it will provide an early treatment option. It is recommended to conduct screenings for students to prevent physical and psychological complications.