Comparison of Nutritional Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices between Urban and Rural Secondary School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Sabah, East Malaysia
Mohammad Halim Bin Jeinie,
Rhanye Mac Guad,
Marion M. Hetherington,
Siew Hua Gan,
Yin Nwe Aung,
Wu Yuan Seng,
Constance Liew Sat Lin,
Ramlah George,
Waidah Sawatan,
Norazmir Md Nor,
Nang Kham Oo Leik,
Mohd Nazri Bin Mohd Daud,
Shutie Fazila Guad
Affiliations
Mohammad Halim Bin Jeinie
Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Rhanye Mac Guad
Department of Biomedical Science and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Marion M. Hetherington
School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Siew Hua Gan
School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway 47500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Yin Nwe Aung
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, UCSI University, Jalan Menara Gading, UCSI Heights, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Wu Yuan Seng
Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Bioscience and Nursing, MAHSA University, Jenjarom 42610, Selangor, Malaysia
Constance Liew Sat Lin
Medical Based Department, Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Ramlah George
Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Waidah Sawatan
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Norazmir Md Nor
Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute (iPROMISE), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Puncak Alam 42300, Selangor, Malaysia
Nang Kham Oo Leik
Department of Reproductive Health, Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Mohd Nazri Bin Mohd Daud
Department of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Shutie Fazila Guad
Sabah State Education Department, Kota Kinabalu 88450, Sabah, Malaysia
Nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) may guide healthy meal choices. Here, nutritional KAP was compared across school students in Sabah based on locality and gender. A cross-sectional survey of students aged 15–19 years was conducted using multistage sampling. Nutritional KAP was measured via questionnaire. Anthropometric measures of weight and height were taken in person to calculate body mass index (BMI). Among the 994 participants, 80% were urban and 60% were female (mean age 16.5 ± 0.6 yr). Most were of Kadazan-Dusun (23%) ethnicity. Measured height for age Z score (HAZ) and BMI for age Z score (BAZ) differed between urban and rural students (−1.2 ± 0.8 versus −1.5 ± 0.7 for HAZ; p p = 0.02, respectively). No difference in nutritional knowledge was found, although urban students prioritized having a healthy/balanced diet (59.55% versus 48.50%, p = 0.03) and ate daily breakfast (57.4% versus 10.2%, p p = 0.0001), yet males selected more healthy/balanced foods (63.3% versus 53.3%, p = 0.041). The gap remains between nutritional KAP and translating this to healthy eating among adolescents, related to locality and gender.
