Perceived socio-cultural factors influencing nutritional status of children below 5 years in selected rural communities

Thesis Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the socio-cultural factors influencing nutritional status of children below 5 years in selected rural communities in Enugu State. The objectives of the study were to determine the influence of family structure, socio-economic status of the family, maternal education on the nutritional status of children and to identify the religious and cultural practices that influence the nutritional status of children. A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was used for the study in Enugu East L.G.A., Enugu State. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 5 communities from the L.G.A. for the study and snow-ball non-probability sampling techniques was used to select the subjects for the study. The target population was unknown; a sample size of 384 was determined using Golden formula for infinite population. Self developed questionnaire with 4 point modified Likert scale was used. Anthropometric measurements of the children under 5 were measured using weighing scale and height measurement. Cronbatch alpha statistic was used to establish the internal consistency which gave a reliability coefficient of 0.80. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. Results were presented in tables as percentages, means and standard deviations. One sample t-test was used to test hypotheses at P < 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that family structure with a grand mean score of 3.29, socio-economic status of the family with a grand mean score of 2.91 and some religious and cultural practices with a grand mean score of 2.77 which was above the criterion mean of 2.5 all had a negative influence on the nutritional status of children. Maternal education was revealed to influence the nutritional status as 33.3% of children malnourished were from mothers with no formal education, 48.7 from mothers with primary education, 15.9% had secondary and tertiary education, respectively. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in relationship between family structure influence, socio-economic status influence, religious and cultural practice influence, maternal education influence and the nutritional status of children. In conclusion, all the variables, family structure, socio-economic status, certain religious and cultural practices were all perceived to have a negative influence on the nutritional status of children. Maternal education also has a strong influence on the nutritional status of children as educated mothers had less number of children malnourished. Recommendation is that health care personnel should educate mothers on factors that lead to poor nutritional status, women empowerment through education should be encouraged as it promises improved family finances, better food security and better childhood nutrition.