NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE (KAP) OF MOTHERS ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN - A STUDY FROM SOUTH INDIA

Undernutrition is a major serious health concern that contributes to mortality and morbidity among young children in India. There are few studies on the relationship of mother's nutrition Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on the nutritional status of school children. It is a cross-sectional study aimed to associate the nutritional Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of mothers and the nutritional status of children. About 100 children and their mothers were selected, according to the inclusion criteria, such as children with the specified age group between 6-12 years. We collected the information related to socio demographic profile, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of mother using the developed questionnaire adopted from FAO manual. The nutritional status of the children was assessed through anthropometric measurement. The SPSS 16.0 version was used for the statistical analysis. The study results showed that the illiterate mother secured higher mean KAP scores. Although, the socio economic status of the family influenced the nutritional Knowledge, Attitude and Practice score of the mother, the statistical significance was not found. The higher mean nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice score of the mother was associated highly with the higher mean height, weight and BMI of the children.