Influence of the School Food Environments on the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Adolescents in Urban Ethiopia
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Date
2019-10
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Addis Ababa,University
Abstract
Food environments. hich arc integral components of food systems. have been changing
dramatically due \0 globalization. Adolescents in urban areas of Ethiopia arc facing an
environment that is nOl conducive to the consumpt ion of nutrit ious food s. Assessing the innucncc
of the school food environment on the knowled ge. attitude and practice of adolescents was 10;:
general objective Of lhis study. A 10 lal of2)) ad o lescents bctwccnlhc ugc of 14- 19 years from s ix
priv •• tc and six government schools which shared the same food environment were interviewed
about their socio-d cmograph ic characteristics. diets and he ight and weight (an thropometric
measurement) were measured . Food environment assessment \\ere also assessed within a radius
of 0.5 kill measured from the sc hool cntmncc. To cn lculatc nnthropomet ric indicators of
nd olescents, WHO Anthro plus softwnrc were used nnd for stntistical analysis. $ P$S versK>n 20
were used . During the food environment assessment. 26 11 different food out lets and 1474 food
and drink advenisings were mapped . To assess thc relationship between the nutritional status
(BMI-for age) and diet (diet diversity score) or food cho icc (ultra-processed food s) of adolescents.
Ol1c-\\ny ANOV A were used to analyze and no relat ionships were found . In class ifying the diets
of adolescents by FAO ten food groups and level of processing the following result wcre found:
allthc ad olescents ale grains. while roots and tubers nnd plantains. 98.7% other vegetables. 79.8%
pulses, 23.2% dark green leafy vegetablcs. 23.2% other ViI A rich fruit and vegetab les. 14.2 %
other fru its, 12.9% meat. fi sh and poultry and 12.4% da iry from FAO ten food groups and from
food s which was classified by le"cl of processing (NOV A classificat ion), Ihey all ate unprocessed
or minimally processed, processed culinary ingrcd iellls and processed food s while 3 1.8% of the
ad o lescents ate ult ra- processed food s(NOVA 4). Testing the corre lation betwccn nut rition
I..l1owledge. nuitudc and pract ice between privatc and govcmment school stud ent s sho\\cd no
significant d iff crence. A significant difference was found betwccn perceived and objecti vc food
environment. This study found that urban food environments are dense and composed of diffeTCnt
types of food outlets. This dens ity docs not stem to translate into a consumption of diverse foods
by the ad o lescents of this stud>. Percept ions of ndolcscent of their food environment do nOl
neeess.'lrily rcnl'Ct the renlity. Further stud ies. particularly npply ing qunlilative methods could help
explain these perceptions nnd int cractions with the food en vironment.
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Keywords
Influence of the school food environments on the knowledge, attitude,