Knowledge among School Teachers on Well-balanced Diet in High School Children at Selected Schools in Bangalore, Karnataka

Abstract

Nutrition is a complex problem influenced by many factors, among other inadequacies of dietary intake and infection. To overcome the problem, in early 1950’s, a slogan named for 4-healthy-5-perfect was introduced to guide people to consumed foods to achieve a better nutritional and health status. As the slogan was considered not providing enough information on the quantity and the balance in relation to health and biological condition, a new guideline named as balanced dietary guidance, was introduced in 1995, covering 12 messages, including among other the function and the quantity food consumed. Yet, after 15 years the messages were very little acknowledged and improperly understood. This activity, as part of a multicentre study in India, is designed to formulate an educational module on a balanced nutritional and dietary guidance appropriate for the school children. Children’s behaviour is fundamentally shaped in school as they spend most of their time there. Thus, evaluating the nutritional observations of teachers, who are in close contact with students, and updating their knowledge would help to change bad dietary habits and in turn prevent diseases like childhood obesity. It is necessary to educate school teachers, in order to ensure that our teachers acquire the precise information on nutrition so that they can orient the children rightly. This study aims to assess the knowledge among school teachers regarding well-balanced diet. Descriptive survey approach was adopted. A modified structured interview schedule was prepared focusing on level of knowledge among school teachers on well-balanced diet in high school children. The study was carried out in Lowry Memorial School and Jyothy High School, Bangalore and 60 high school teachers were selected by purposive sampling technique. Majority of respondents 35% were in age group of 31–35 and above 35 years. 57% were female and 43% were male teachers. 34% were Hindus, 8% were Muslims and 58% were Christians. 80% were married and 20% were unmarried. 32% were graduates and 68% were post graduates. 25% had the work experience of 1–5 years, 33% had the work experience of 6–10 years and 42% had the work experience of greater than 10 years. 73% were from private school and 27% were from aided school. 33% of them got the information from previous experience, 57% got the information from mass media and 10% of them got the information from other sources. 40% were vegetarians and 60% were non-vegetarians. The mean knowledge percentage is high in general information and low in the aspect carbohydrates. 53% of the teachers are having moderate knowledge and 47% of the teachers are having knowledge regarding well balanced diet in high school children. Demographic variables like age, education, work experience and food habit versus knowledge level are found to be significant and other demographic variables such as gender, marital status, religion, type of school and source of information are not found to be significant. The association between age and knowledge levels is sign (χ²=10.17) at 5% level of significance. This study revealed that teachers working in high school had moderate knowledge on well-balanced diet in school going children. The enhancement in knowledge is greatly required on well-balanced diet. Hence, this can be done by distributing an information booklet