Impact of nutrition education on knowledge and haemoglobin status of hill women in Uttarakhand State of India.
BACKGROUND
This study aimed to examine the impact of the use of single vs. combination of media on nutritional knowledge and haemoglobin status of women in a rural hill area in Uttarakhand State, India.


METHODS
Women from three villages were selected randomly and divided into three groups namely, print media group (n = 59), multimedia group (n = 53) and control group (n = 111). The print media group was exposed to nutrition education through the use of calendars on anaemia for 60 days; the multimedia group was given nutrition education through a combination of media including calendars, video films, and group discussions for 60 days.


RESULTS
At pre-exposure stage, 62.7% of the women in the print media group, 67.9% of the multimedia group, and 66.7% of the control group had a low nutrition knowledge level. After exposure, the print media group and the multimedia group showed a significant rise in nutrition knowledge, with the multimedia group scoring significantly higher than the print media group. Overall, 69.1% of the women were anaemic with mean haemoglobin concentration of 10.74 +/- 0.86 g/dl. A non-significant rise in mean haemoglobin concentrations in the experimental groups was found at post-exposure stage.


CONCLUSIONS
Calendars and video films are effective in increasing nutrition knowledge of illiterate hill women. Use of mass media programmes of longer duration should be encouraged to combat the nutritional problems of rural communities.
Department of Foods and Nutrition, College of Home Science, GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar 263145, Uttarakhand, India. shwetasupadhyay@gmail.com
S
S
Upadhyay
A R
AR
Kumar
R S
RS
Raghuvanshi
B B
BB
Singh
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D003146:Communications Media; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D012424:Rural Population
D006454:Hemoglobins