Fortschritte in der medizinischen Forschung
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Abstrakt

Effectiveness of planned teaching program on knowledge regarding iron deficiency anemia and malnutrition among malnourished school students at Alankuppam, Puducherry, India

Usha s, Muthukumaran, Jakkulin Lilly Priya and Vinai Kumar

Introduction & Aim: Child hunger is a very significant issue today. UNICEF estimate states that nearly 195 million children are malnourished worldwide. Millions of children living in developing nations are at risk of malnutrition. Iodine deficiency can lead to a variety of health and developmental consequences even mild deficiency can cause a significant loss of learning ability. Evidence shows that the health of students is linked to their academic achievement, so by working together, we can ensure that young people are healthy and ready to learn. Recent studies have demonstrated that nutrition affects students’ thinking skills, behavior and health, all factors that impact academic performance. Therefore, the investigator designed this study to assess the knowledge regarding iron deficiency anemia and malnutrition among school students and in order to improve the knowledge through planned teaching program.
Methods: One group pre- and post-test design was used for this study. After the anthropometric assessments and Body Mass
Index (BMI) of 144 populations, 68 adolescent school students in the age group of 11-16 years who are identified as mild to
moderate level of malnutrition at Alankuppam rural area of Puducherry, India were selected as participants of the study. The knowledge of school students was assessed using self-administered multiple-choice questionnaire in their own language Tamil.

Results: Among 68 school students, 2.94% of them had adequate knowledge in pre-test, after intervention 82.4% of them
gained adequate knowledge on iron deficiency anemia and malnutrition in post-test.
Conclusion: Comparison of pre-test and post-test knowledge scores shows that there was considerable increase in posttest
knowledge. Only 2 students had adequate knowledge in pre-test, whereas in post-test, 56 students (82.4%) had adequate
knowledge and shows significantly effective at the level of p<0.05.