RURAL HOUSEHOLDS HAS BETTER NUTRITIONAL ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR THAN URBAN ONES IN SOUTH-WEST OF IRAN: THE NUTRI-KAP SURVEY

Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice among Iranian households lived in south-west of Iran in 2016. Methods: : The study population consisted of 842 (492 urban and 350 rural) households who lived in Abadan, Khorramshahr, and Shadegan cities, Khuzestan provinces in South-West of Iran covered by Abadan school of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran. In a multi-stage cluster sampling method data was collected by a standardized and structured questionnaire evaluating nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice of the households. The answers were scored and the scores more than 75% of the maximum were considered as ‘good’, 50–75% as ‘moderate’ and lower than 50% as ‘poor’. Data was analyzed by independent sample t and chi square testsResults: The mean ± SD (standard deviation) of knowledge score was 43.4±13.3 in urban and 41.1±14.5 in rural areas (p<0.05). The mean ± SD of attitude score was 82.9±16.9 in urban and 87.4±14.4 in rural areas (p<0.001). The mean ± SD of practice in urban and rural arears was 98±11.6 and 101.8±12.1, respectively ( p<0.001). Moreover, there was a significant difference in attitude and practice but not knowledge gradation between urban and rural households. The prevalence of poor nutritional attitudes and practice were significantly more in urban than rural households (15.1% vs. 5.4% for attitude and 24.7% vs. 11.7% for practice) (p<0.001).Conclusion: Urban households had a higher nutritional knowledge but the lower nutritional attitude and practice compared with rural household living in South-West of Iran

Keywords:

Rural households , Nutritional knowledge , Attitude , Practice , South-West