Abstract:
The study assessed the various food habits of expectant mothers, the factors that influence
the formation of food habits and the impact on the mothers and the babies in Mampong
Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Simple random sampling was used to select
seven health centers in the municipality. A total of 100 randomly selected expectant mothers
served as the subjects for the study. The major instrument used was questionnaire while
observation schedule served as supplementary instrument. For the analysis of data,
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 and analysis toolpak for
Microsoft excel were used. These included simple percentages, frequency counts, and
charts. The key finding of the study were that expectant mothers have various food habits in
which 15 (15%) said they have good food habits and eight five (85) (85%) said they have
bad food habit that influence the food they eat. There are factors that influence the formation
of the food habits of the expectant mothers which are Religious/Cultural twenty-six (26)
(26%), Socio-economic thirty-two (32) (32%), Education and mass media twenty-three (23)
(23%) and Peer influence nineteen (19) (19%). Most of these mothers’ meals for the day do
not have all the food nutrients in their right proportions. This is because the type of food
habits they have do not allow them to get all the food nutrients in the meals they take during
the day. These habits result in some nutritional impacts on the mothers which are; Loss of
appetite twenty-two (22) (22%), Complications thirty-three (35) (35%), Diseases twentyfour
(24) (24%) and Death nineteen (19) (19%); Deformity twenty (20) (20%), low birth
weight twenty-two (22) (22%), heart diseases thirty (30) (30%), and mental retardation in
the babies. These nutritional impacts can be avoided when the mothers are taught how to
include all the food nutrients in their meals. All stakeholders of health, the government, nongovernmental
organisations and private firms should come to the aid of the health centers
with grants and donations to provide computers, relevant books and other materials to
enhance effective teaching of food nutrition and health to the expectant mothers.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM, Faculty of
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION submitted to the School of Research and Graduate
Studies, University of Education, Winneba- Kumasi campus in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the award of the Degree of Masters of Technology in Catering
and Hospitality.
