Nutritional knowledge-attitude-practice among students in six cities of China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand nutrition knowledge,related attitude and behavior among primary students in six cities of China, and to provide evidence for nutrition education and intervention strategies.@*Methods@#A multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select 12 197 grade 4 and grade 5 primary school students from 72 primary schools in 6 cities of China, whom were administered with a questionnaire survey on nutrition knowledge, practice and practice.@*Results@#Average nutritional knowledge was relatively low (12.0±6.4), practice score was moderate(11.4±2.4), while nutritional attitude was relatively high(17.0±2.4). The nutritional KAP scores of girls were higher than those of boys; the nutritional knowledge and practice scores of urban students were higher than those of suburban students; the nutritional knowledge score of fifth-grade students was higher than that of fourth-grade students(P<0.05). The overall nutritional knowledge awareness rate was 26.1%, with the highest in knowledge of whole grains(73.9%). About 83.5% of the students held positive nutritional attitude, 97.6% considered nutritional knowledge important. The overall rate of healthy eating behavior of students was 88.1%. Most students had breakfast almost every day(88.5%). About 34.9%, 38.0%,46.1% and 50.5% were reported of rarely consumption in snacks, fast food and drinks. Students in urban area and grade 5 were more likely have breakfast. Girls reported higher rates of having breastfast and low consumption of snack food and beverage while boys reported higher consumption of fast food. Students from suburban areas reported high consumption of western fast food but lower beverage(P<0.05). The score of students’ nutritional knowledge was positively correlated to attitude, so as attitude and practice(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Insufficient nutritional knowledge and unhealthy dietary behavior is observed in primary school students in China. Nutritional K-A-P varies in students with different gender, area and grade. Specific nutritional education in school-setting should be developed accordingly to culture healthy lifestyle among primary school students.