Nutritional knowledge of teenage

Abstract

The study was conducted at Zenu community and its environs. It investigated the influence of nutritional knowledge of teenage mothers on the nutritional status of their children. The design for the study was a descriptive design. A total of 80 participants comprising 40 teenage mothers and 40 of their children aged 0 - 24 months were selected using purposive sampling techniques for the study. Questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82 and observation checklist were used for data collection. The quantitative data were analyzed descriptively via Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), and presented in tables as frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviation, whereas correlational analysis was used for the inferential statistics. The study revealed that the nutritional knowledge, food habits and choices of teenage mothers had a significant influence on the nutritional status of their children (p < .05). Sadly, the practice of exclusive breastfeeding was very low among teenage mothers. The study concluded that child (infant) malnutrition remains prevalent in Zenu community and its environs, and this was attributed to poverty and low level of nutritional knowledge among the teenage mothers. The study recommended that the Ghana Health Service in conjunction with the Ghana Education Service should intensify nutrition education and counselling in schools as well as during antenatal clinics (ANC). Nurses and midwives in the Zenu community and its environs should also intensify education on exclusive breastfeeding to expectant and nursing mothers during antenatal and post-natal visits as well as during public health education outreach programmes.