NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, DIETARY PRACTICES AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS (13–18 YEARS) ATTENDING PUBLIC MIXED DAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN GILGIL SUB-COUNTY, NAKURU, KENYA

Abstract

Adolescent girls are nutritionally vulnerable because they have unique nutritional needs for optimal growth and development, have high risk-taking propensity and are predisposed to pressure from peers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the association between nutrition knowledge, attitude, dietary practices and nutritional status of school-going adolescent girls. The school-based study was conducted in 34 public mixed day secondary schools in Gilgil Sub-County and included school girls aged 13-18 years attending the said secondary schools in Gilgil Sub County. The sample size was 420 girls obtained from six sampled schools obtained using the stratified random sampling method. The study employed an observational cross-sectional study design that involved collection of quantitative data using both questionnaires and anthropometric tools. The data was summarized using descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. The logistic regression was used to check the association between socio-economic variables, nutrition knowledge, attitude, dietary practices, and nutrition status at the 0.05 level of significance. The research sample was evenly distributed in terms of age while the majority (77.8%) resided in the rural areas. The majority of the girls (86.2%) were in healthy nutritional state based on the BMI while 13.8% were malnourished. Being younger 13-15 years (OR= 0.42, 95% CI: - 0.895- 1.197), mother being unemployed (OR= 0.086, 95% CI: 0.038- 0.196), and taking less than 2 litres of water a day (OR= 0.47, 95% CI: 0.258- 0.857) were significantly associated with lower likelihood of having a healthy nutritional status. On the other hand, living in rural areas (OR= 2.559, 95% CI: 1.374- 4.765),being from grandparent-headed household (OR=7.792, 95% CI: 5.983- 10.147), having a positive nutritional attitude (OR= 3.333, 95% CI= 1.519- 7.313) and having a higher individual dietary diversity score (OR= 2.526, 95% CI: 1.396- 4.571) were significant linked to greater chances of having a healthy nutritional status. Majority of the school-going adolescent girls in Gilgil Sub-County are in a healthy nutritional state. The majority of these girls have low nutritional knowledge but positive nutritional attitude and good dietary practices. Nutritional status of the girl is significantly determined by age with older girl being more likely to be in healthy nutritional state. Residing in rural areas, mother and father occupation, mother and father education, having a positive nutritional attitude and best dietary practices are positively associated with the girls’ nutritional status. The study recommends that policies and programmes aimed at improving the nutritional status of school going adolescent girls should prioritize enhancing the nutritional knowledge of the girls and mothers through awareness campaigns. Nutritional interventions should prioritize girls residing in urban area, those in large households, and those from low-income households. The interventions should also focus on improving the girls’ nutritional attitude and access to meals with diverse foods groups.