A Review of Nutritional Knowledge of Homemakers and Its Association with Their Educational Level

Abstract

Adequate nutrition, a fundamental cornerstone of any individual’s health, is especially critical for women because inadequate nutrition wreaks havoc not only on women’s own health but also on the health of their children and family as women are the homemakers and they cook food for the family. The family’s health depends on the nutritional knowledge of the homemaker. This study is being carried out with the objective of assessing the nutritional knowledge of homemakers through a questionnaire method, to study if education plays a role, to find out if proper nutrition from the kitchen is supplied to the family, to find out homemakers from which educational background are able to maintain the health of their family in a better way. A descriptive institutional-based study was conducted to assess the knowledge of homemakers about their nutritional knowledge and family health associated with it. It employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods from January to June of the year 2023. A total of 100 adult women were taken as samples out of which 50 women were taken from LIG section and the remaining 50 from that of the MIG section. Random Sampling method was applied for selecting a sample from the population. Under the construct of nutrition knowledge, there were thirty-two questions for the quantitative study. Nutrition knowledge questions aimed at assessing the nutrition knowledge of women on the aspects of the nutritional requirement. The response rate was 100%. Different questions were asked to assess the knowledge of homemakers on nutrition and family health in the study area. The mean age of the participants was 32 years, while the age range was 25-45 years. Out of the 100 respondents, 41% (majority) were in age of 25-30 years. 33% were in the 31-35 year group, 15% were from the 41-45 years group and only 11 % were from 36-40 years of age. 21% were illiterate, 35% (majority) were matriculated, 25% passed senior secondary and only 19% pursued higher education. This study has documented the level of knowledge of homemakers on nutrition and its association with educational level. The incidence of dietary inadequacies as a result of dietary habits and patterns in women is higher. This study revealed that more than half of the respondents did not know the basic sources of macro and micronutrients. Hence, nutrition intervention such as nutrition education in different villages, health centers, and health posts is very essential. Women’s organizations should be given responsibility for the community particularly for women’s nutrition to increase the level of nutritional knowledge of homemakers in the studied area