The Nutritional Knowledge and Nutritional Status of Pregnant Women in Aceh Besar: The Correlational Study

OBJECTIVE: To identify the association between pregnant women's knowledge and nutritional status. METHODOLOGY: This study was an observational correlation analytic study with a cross -sectional design. One hundred and one pregnant women were selected using a simple random sampling technique at six Aceh Besar community health centres in Aceh Province, Indonesia. A nutritional knowledge questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, and nutritional status was measured based on the Pre -Pregnancy Body Mass Index (PP -BMI) of pregnant women and Maternal Weight Gain (MWG) during pregnancy. RESULTS: The Chi -Square test results show a significant association between knowledge and maternal PP -BMI (p=.000), but there was no association between knowledge and MWG (p=.710). CONCLUSION: Nutritional knowledge is essential for pregnant women because it can influence maternal nutritional status during pregnancy. It is hoped that all pregnant women will have self -awareness in gaining good knowledge about nutrition during pregnancy and that health workers will provide optimal nutrition education so that pregnant women are prevented from the risk of nutritional disorders.