Abstract:
Nutritional knowledge is important because it helps battle malnutrition. A lack of
knowledge regarding nutrition and unhealthy eating habits are linked to inadequate and
unbalanced nutrition in adolescence. Unhealthy eating practices of adolescents may lead to
health problems such as iron deficiency, eating disorders, obesity, under nutrition, and dental
caries. Many studies that were conducted in Ethiopia have been only focused on nutritional
status and associated factors. However, there is limited school- based studies on nutritional
knowledge and associated factors. Furthermore, as far as researcher’s knowledge concerned
there is no single study that was conducted particularly in the study area.
Objective: To assess Nutritional knowledge and associated factors among secondary school
students in Haramaya District, Eastern Ethiopia, from October 11 to 31, 2022.
Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 417 random
selected students in Haramaya District eastern Ethiopia. Data were entered using Epi Data
version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 21 software. Descriptive statistics were conducted
to describe the participants. Both Bivariable and Multivariable logistic regression analyses was
performed to identify factors associated with nutritional knowledge. Statistical significance was
declared at p-value < 0.05.
Results: A total of 417 students were interviewed, with a response rate of 100%. The overall
median nutritional knowledge among students was 58 with an interquartile range of (IQR= 44,
66) and 195 (46.76% [(95%CI: 42, 51.59)]) had good nutritional knowledge. Being female
[AOR=1.77, 95% CI (1.03, 3.04)], and senior secondary students [AOR=3.3, 95% CI (1.95,
5.73)]
Conclusion: The findings of our study highlighted the considerable nutritional knowledge
among high school students. Nutritional knowledge of secondary school students differed in
terms of sex, and level of education and the findings emphasize that targeted interventions on
nutritional knowledge should be needed to improve nutrition literacy for student’s good health.
