Maternal Nutritional Knowledge in Association with the Dietary Intake and Nutritional Status of their School-Going Children: A case of Kayole-Soweto Informal Settlement, Nairobi County, Kenya DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajhs.v38i3.9

Abstract

Introduction: School age is a period during which dynamic growth and development occur; therefore, good nutrition during this time is crucial. Mothers have been known to play a central role in their children's nutritional status, and their knowledge of nutrition affects their children's nutritional outcomes. The study sought to assess the association of maternal nutritional knowledge with the nutritional status and dietary intake of protein, energy, vitamin A, iron and zinc among school children (7-11 years) in Kayole-Soweto informal settlement, Nairobi County, Kenya.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 224 mother-child pairs, comprising of mothers and their school-going children (7-11 years) living in Kayole-Soweto informal settlement, in Nairobi, Kenya. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data, while SPSS version 20 was used for analysis. Associations between variables were tested using ANOVA, Chi-square tests (χ²) and Correlation coefficient (r).

Results: About 98.7% of mothers had some level of education, and 62.5%, 22.3%, and 15.2% of them had low, moderate and high nutritional knowledge, respectively. Dietary intake was generally inadequate, and no significant differences were observed between maternal nutritional knowledge and the children's dietary intakes of protein (ANOVA F=0.98, p=0.38), energy (ANOVA F=0.45, p=0.64), vitamin A (ANOVA F=0.31, p=0.74), iron (ANOVA F=0.42, p=0.66) and zinc (ANOVA F=0.92, p=0.41). The prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting among children was 5.9%, 8.9%, and 5.3%, respectively, with overweight and obesity at 6.7% and 1.3%, respectively. No significant differences were observed between maternal nutritional knowledge and the weight for age (χ²=0.31, df=2, p=0.07), height for age (χ²=5.26, df=4, p=0.50) and BMI for age z-scores (χ²=9.86, df=8, p=0.19) of their children.

Conclusion: Even though mothers of school children had low nutritional knowledge, malnutrition was not widespread among school children in the study area. However, dietary intake for most nutrients was low, an indication of the lack of diversified diets for these children. Therefore, it is recommended that nutrition education programmes be targeted to mothers to improve dietary intake of the various micronutrients key during this growth phase.