Nutrition Education to Improve Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Yemeni School Children

摘要

Background and Objective: Yemen is the second poorest country in the Middle East and North African region. Yemenis also face serious nutrition problems, mainly due to low-quality food intake , which may affect their development. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a nutrition education package on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) related to nutrition among Yemeni primary school children. Materials and Methods: An experimental study design with pre and post-test was carried out. A validated questionnaire was used to assess KAP. A total of 233 children in the age of 8 were divided into an intervention group (105) and a control group (128). The intervention group received a nutrition education package, which encompassed of video and comic book sessions, while the control group received only formal education at school. Results: The nutritional knowledge mean score doubled for the intervention group at post-intervention. Moreover, the nutrition attitude and the nutrition practice mean scores increased at post-test for the intervention group. In addition, there were significant differences in the means scores for knowledge, attitude and practice in the intervention group’s at pre and post-intervention (p0.05), while no significant mean difference was detected in the control group. Moreover, the changes in the scores for knowledge (F = 24.84, p0.05), attitude (F = 6.44, p0.05) and practice (F = 24.03, p0.05) in the intervention group were maintained even after adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusion: The nutrition education package utilized in this study is probable as the intervention tool to combat malnutrition among Yemeni school children.