Nutritional knowledge and attitudes of adolescents in public secondary schools in Uganda: a case study of Nansana Municipality, Uganda

Abstract

This study investigated sources of nutrition information, attitudes, and nutrition knowledge towards the consumption of healthy foods among adolescents. A mixed cross-sectional study involving 1174 adolescents randomly chosen from all five public schools in Nansana Municipality was carried out. Information was gathered using a questionnaire and focus group discussions. From the findings, ‘television’ and ‘lessons taught in class’ were the most preferred sources of nutrition information, with percentage scores of 27.6% and 23.2%, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that adolescents with greater nutrition knowledge in themes: ‘nutrition and health outcomes’ and ‘nutrition function and sources’ significantly outperformed their peers on several items, for example, understanding the function of proteins (t = 4.67, p < .001, d = 0.26, 95% CI [0.14, 0.38]) and recognizing the cause of scurvy (t = 15.50, p < .001, d = 0.86, [0.74, 0.98]). A larger portion of participants exhibited negative attitudes towards healthy eating. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions.