Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda
Abstract This study assessed the factors associated with caregiver’s nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) as well as their implication on the nutritional status of children aged 6–24 months old in Soroti and Amuria districts, eastern Uganda. A cross-sectional research design was appl...
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Springer
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Discover Food |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44187-025-00369-8 |
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| author | Christine Anyati Daniel Micheal Okello Edmond Nyuyki Mainimo Ipolto Okello-Uma |
| author_facet | Christine Anyati Daniel Micheal Okello Edmond Nyuyki Mainimo Ipolto Okello-Uma |
| author_sort | Christine Anyati |
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| description | Abstract This study assessed the factors associated with caregiver’s nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) as well as their implication on the nutritional status of children aged 6–24 months old in Soroti and Amuria districts, eastern Uganda. A cross-sectional research design was applied to collect primary data from 408 caregivers of children between 6 and 24 months. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics including regression analysis. Anthropometric approaches were used to assess the nutritional status of the reference child. Results showed that there was a generally low level of knowledge on complementary feeding (CF) among caregivers in this study. There was, however generally good attitude of caregivers towards CF. The findings on practices were mixed with both good practices such as feeding the child with colostrum and bad practices such earlier than recommended introduction of complementary foods. From this study, the average time for introduction of complementary foods was 4.4 months. This was less than the recommended 6 months with only 36% of the children being introduced to complementary feeding at the recommended 6 months. Caregiver’s nutritional knowledge was predicted by child’s sex, mother as caregiver and occupation of household head, while, caregiver’s attitude was predicted by household occupation and farming as source of foods in the case caregiver’s attitude. Results on influence knowledge and attitude on child nutritional status shows that attitude is a significant predictor of stunting and wasting, but not underweight, on the other hand, knowledge was not a significant predictor of child nutritional status. The study recommends the need to improve the level of knowledge of caregivers. This could be by introducing child nutrition education through available sources of information. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-deb6d27a59b74ba2b134dfea10e57424 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2731-4286 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Springer |
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| series | Discover Food |
| spelling | doaj-art-deb6d27a59b74ba2b134dfea10e574242025-08-20T02:12:06ZengSpringerDiscover Food2731-42862025-04-015112110.1007/s44187-025-00369-8Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of UgandaChristine Anyati0Daniel Micheal Okello1Edmond Nyuyki Mainimo2Ipolto Okello-Uma3Department of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Gulu UniversityDepartment of Rural Development and Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Gulu UniversityDepartment of Rural Development and Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Gulu UniversityDepartment of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Gulu UniversityAbstract This study assessed the factors associated with caregiver’s nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) as well as their implication on the nutritional status of children aged 6–24 months old in Soroti and Amuria districts, eastern Uganda. A cross-sectional research design was applied to collect primary data from 408 caregivers of children between 6 and 24 months. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics including regression analysis. Anthropometric approaches were used to assess the nutritional status of the reference child. Results showed that there was a generally low level of knowledge on complementary feeding (CF) among caregivers in this study. There was, however generally good attitude of caregivers towards CF. The findings on practices were mixed with both good practices such as feeding the child with colostrum and bad practices such earlier than recommended introduction of complementary foods. From this study, the average time for introduction of complementary foods was 4.4 months. This was less than the recommended 6 months with only 36% of the children being introduced to complementary feeding at the recommended 6 months. Caregiver’s nutritional knowledge was predicted by child’s sex, mother as caregiver and occupation of household head, while, caregiver’s attitude was predicted by household occupation and farming as source of foods in the case caregiver’s attitude. Results on influence knowledge and attitude on child nutritional status shows that attitude is a significant predictor of stunting and wasting, but not underweight, on the other hand, knowledge was not a significant predictor of child nutritional status. The study recommends the need to improve the level of knowledge of caregivers. This could be by introducing child nutrition education through available sources of information.https://doi.org/10.1007/s44187-025-00369-8Nutritional KAPComplementary feedingNutritional statusChild nutrition |
| spellingShingle | Christine Anyati Daniel Micheal Okello Edmond Nyuyki Mainimo Ipolto Okello-Uma Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda Discover Food Nutritional KAP Complementary feeding Nutritional status Child nutrition |
| title | Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda |
| title_full | Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda |
| title_fullStr | Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda |
| title_short | Nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6–24 months: evidence from Amuria and Soroti districts of Uganda |
| title_sort | nutritional knowledge attitude and practices among caregivers and nutritional status of children 6 24 months evidence from amuria and soroti districts of uganda |
| topic | Nutritional KAP Complementary feeding Nutritional status Child nutrition |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44187-025-00369-8 |
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