KNOWLEDGE OF MOTHERS ON HYGIENE PRACTICES AND NUTRITION AS PREDISPOSING FACTORS OF CHILDREN ILL-HEALTH IN IJEBU NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
ABSTRACT
The knowledge of hygiene practices and nutrition by people is of a great important and can be regarded as an important factor contribution to the health of the children. The study was conducted among mother in Ijebu North local government, Ago-Iwoye Ogun state to elicit information about knowledge of mothers on hygiene practices and nutrition as predisposing factors of children ill-health. Three hundred participants were randomly selected from the five strata in Ijebu North. A Self structured, validated and trial tested questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Multiple regression and Pearson correlation analysis were the statistics used for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
The findings revealed that the mothers understand that malnutrition causes and predispose to ill health conditions for children: (r2= .011, p<0.05) also Good environmental sanitation will lead to and predispose a healthy life (r2=0.058, p<0.05). Also, There is a significant correlation between the knowledge of mothers on the prevention of diseases through personal hygiene and there is a significant correlation between the knowledge of mothers and the prevention of diseases through nutrition using Pearson correlation.
It is therefore recommended that since the knowledge is existing in mothers, Mothers should also engage their children in the participation of the exercise, nutrition education at a young age should be regarded as critically important, Parental education programs should be provided and should focus on more than just knowledge, as attitudes and food choice behaviours are also important in preventing the lives of children.
