MATERNAL NUTRITION RELATED KNOWLEDGE AS CORRELATES OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF PUPILS IN ETSAKO WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

Abstract

The study examined the maternal nutrition related knowledge as correlate of nutritional status of pupils in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State. Specifically, the study examined the nutritional knowledge of primary school pupils’ mothers, the nutritional status of primary school pupils and further determined how maternal nutritional related knowledge correlate with the nutritional status of pupils in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

The correlational research design was employed. The population of pupils for this study was twenty nine thousand nine hundred and twenty seven (29,927) pupils in Public Primary schools in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.  The sample size of 299 pupils representing 1% of the total population of 29,927 pupils was drawn as sample to take the questionnaire on maternal nutrition knowledge to their mothers at home. Two instruments were used for data collection.  The first is maternal nutritional knowledge questionnaire (MANKQ), while the second is Nutritional Assessment Sheet (NBAS). The split-half reliability coefficient of 0.73 and 0.88 were obtained on the two instruments respectively. Research questions 1 was answered using means and standard deviation while the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) statistics was used to test hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result shows that there was a significant relationship between nutrition related knowledge and the nutritional status of pupils in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State. The researcher recommends that nutrition must be mainstreamed into policies, and programs, by all stakeholders who address food insecurity and malnutrition in rural Nigeria and in the country as a whole.