Relationship Between Caregiver Nutritional Knowledge, Eating Habits And Nutritional Status Of Preschool Children In The Mfantseman Municipality

Abstract

Many children continue to be afflicted by under nutrition and hidden hunger while the numbers who are overweight are rising rapidly. However, studies on nutritional knowledge, eating habits and nutritional status of children aged 24-59 months are scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships among caregiver nutritional knowledge, eating habits and nutritional status of children aged 24-59months old in the Mfantseman Municipality of Ghana. The quantitative approach was employed and the correlational design was used. Percentages, frequencies, WHO Child Growth Standard Z – scores and pearson product moment correlation coefficient were employed to analyze the study research questions. A total of 180 child-caregiver pairs were selected for the study using the simple random sampling technique. The results revealed that children aged 24-59 months in the Mfantseman Municipaity practice healthy eating habit and have healthy nutritional status except that they are at risk of becoming overweight. Further, the overall, results indicated that caregivers in the Mfantseman Municipality have a good level of nutritional knowledge. Finally, nutritional knowledge of caregivers was found to correlate positively with children’s eating habits, children’s nutritional status correlated positively with their eating habits and children’s nutritional status showed a positive association with caregiver nutritional knowledge. It was concluded that caregivers with enhanced nutritional knowledge would ensure healthy nutritional status and eating habits of children. Suggestions were then made for future studies.