Sustainable eating among Taiwanese university students: Barriers, facilitators and strategies
Li-Ling Liao, Chia-Kuei Lee, I-Ju Lai, Li-Chun Chang, Hui-Ling LinObjective:
This study aimed to explore barriers, facilitators and student-informed strategies related to sustainable eating among university students in Taiwan, and to identify priorities for health education and environmental interventions.
Design:
This qualitative investigation was guided by the social ecological model and used focus group discussions to examine how students understood and negotiated sustainable eating in everyday university life. Using thematic analysis, we identified barriers, facilitators, and strategies across individual, interpersonal, campus, community and policy levels.
Setting:
Seven focus group discussions were conducted with 60 undergraduate students recruited from two universities in Taiwan, including one metropolitan university and one in a more rural setting.
Results:
Students’ sustainable eating practices were shaped by interacting influences across multiple social ecological levels. Barriers included convenience- and preference-oriented food choices, habitual routines, limited understanding of sustainable eating, financial constraints, social discomfort, limited food labelling and insufficient access to supportive food environments. Facilitators included health-related motivations, family and peer influences, classroom experiences and conditional support from campus resources. Sustainable eating was perceived not simply as a matter of knowledge, but as a matter of everyday feasibility, shaped by whether choices were understandable, affordable, visible, convenient and socially supported. Students proposed strategies that included experiential education, digital engagement, curriculum integration, clearer food information, improved campus food environments and affordability mechanisms.
Conclusion:
Sustainable eating among Taiwanese university students should be addressed as a multilevel health education and environmental issue. Programmes and interventions should combine food systems education, supportive campus environments, clearer information, affordability mechanisms and social engagement.