Assessment of Nutritional Knowledge of Anganwadi Workers
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Date
2014
Authors
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Publisher
MPUAT, Udaipur
Abstract
The present research was conducted with the objective to assess nutritional
knowledge of Anganwadi workers. The study was conducted in two purposively selected
districts of Rajasthan i.e. Ajmer and Udaipur. Four AWTCs were included in the study. The
study sample consisted of 60 AWWs. After reviewing of course content of refresher
training and consultation with subject matter specialist, different aspects of nutrition were
selected. Nutrition aspects included basic nutrition, nutrition for vulnerable groups and
growth monitoring. Questionnaire technique was used for data collection and data were
analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean percent scores and correlation. Nearly half of
the respondents (46.67%) were belonging to the age group of 31-40 years. More than half of
the AWWs (58.33%) had education qualification below 12th class. Nearly half of the
AWWs (46.67%) had more than 10 years of experience in the service. All the AWWs
(100%) have taken job training of 26 working days once in their service period. Majority of
AWWs (68.33%) had completed up to 2 refresher trainings only. An AWW receive
refresher training with an average interval of 5.2 years. All the AWWs (100%) maintain
growth chart in Anganwadi centre. Majority of AWWs (i.e.65 %) provides health and
nutrition education once in a week. All AWWs reported work load as major constraint in
dissemination of nutrition messages.
The overall Nutritional knowledge of the respondents was found to be average
(46.84%). The aspect wise nutritional knowledge of respondents reflects the average
knowledge all three components i.e. basic nutrition with mean per cent score of 46.23,
Nutrition for vulnerable groups with mean percent score of 48.40, growth monitoring with
mean per cent score of 43. In –depth analysis of nutrition knowledge reveals that
respondents had inadequate knowledge in different aspect such as functions of vitamin-D,
rich sources of iron, iron rich recipes, diet during diarrhoea, cause of high blood pressure in
pregnancy and nutrient need during lactation. AWWs possess especially poor knowledge
regarding micronutrient deficiency (i.e. riboflavin, niacin and cyanocobalamin). AWWs had
adequate knowledge about balanced diet; rich sources of vitamin-A, C and calcium;
deficiency syndrome of vitamin-A; initiation of breastfeeding; iodine deficiency disorder
and diet in protein energy malnutrition.
A significant relationship found between educational level of AWWs and their
knowledge of nutrition. Nutritional knowledge score went on increasing with increasing
educational level of AWWs. Knowledge score went on decreasing as the experience of
AWWs in years was increasing. But no significant relationship found between the work
experience of the AWWs and their knowledge about basic nutrition. Relationship between
nutritional knowledge of AWW and their age was found to be significant. Knowledge score
went on decreasing with increasing age of AWWs. But no significant relationship found
between age of AWW and knowledge of basic nutrition possessed by them. No significant
relationship was found between nutritional knowledge of AWWs and number refresher
trainings completed but relationship between knowledge of AWWs about growth
monitoring and number refresher trainings completed was found significant and they were
negative correlated. The study concluded that knowledge of AWWs on nutrition is
inadequate. Hence attention may be given to strengthen this aspect in ICDS training
programme
Description
Assessment of Nutritional Knowledge of Anganwadi Workers
Keywords
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Citation
Sharma and Jain, 2014