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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
Rural Outreach Program
ISSN: 1684-5358 EISSN: 1684-5358
Vol. 17, No. 4, 2017, pp. 12775-12790
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Bioline Code: nd17094
Full paper language: English
Document type: Study
Document available free of charge
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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Vol. 17, No. 4, 2017, pp. 12775-12790
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PARENTAL KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES REGARDING OVERWEIGHT AMONG PRESCHOOL CHILDREN IN RURAL ZIMBABWE
Mushonga, NGT; Mujuru, HA; Nyanga, LK; Nyagura, S; Musaka, N & Dembah, R
Abstract
Parents have significant influence in the development of children’s eating behaviour and
food choices. Their knowledge and attitudes towards nutritional status play an important
part in childhood growth, as parents become role models in shaping children’s eating
habits. The aim of this study was to assess parental knowledge and attitudes towards
childhood nutritional status and evaluate the relationship between eating habits,
knowledge and attitudes of parents. A cross-sectional study was conducted in five
districts of Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. A total of 241 parents of preschool
children were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Questionnaires were
administered to parents who gathered at the selected primary schools in the Districts.
Data was analysed using SPSS version 16 (2007) and MS Excel. Spearman’s Coefficient
Correlation at a 95% significance level was used to measure the strength of linear
association between knowledge and attitude score as well as education level, gender and
food consumption scores. Results showed that parents in Mashonaland East Province of
Zimbabwe had a poor to moderate nutrition knowledge and understanding of the causes
of overweight among preschool children. There was a significant association between
education level of parents and nutrition knowledge scores attained (p = 0.028). Food
consumption score was significantly associated with knowledge score (p = 0.008).
Furthermore, 0.4% of the parents with good nutrition knowledge had acceptable food
consumption scores. This study showed that most parents (83.4%) were knowledgeable
about the concept of a balanced diet. However, this was not translated into practice as
72% of the parents had poor to borderline food consumption score. Nutrition gaps
identified in this study included failure by parents to link skipping breakfast to
overweight among children and that exclusive breast feeding contributes to weight
reduction. Parents did not acknowledge that eating at least 5 servings of fruits and
vegetables is beneficial in maintaining healthy body weight and that being overweight is
a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. The results further demonstrated that parents in
the province require additional nutrition knowledge to help curb overweight among
preschool children by giving appropriate nutritious foods.
Keywords
Parents; children; knowledge; attitude; food consumption score; weight; nutritional status
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