Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Healthy Eating and Associated Factors among University Students in Selangor, Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3923/pjn.2015.892.897Keywords:
Attitude, healthy eating, knowledge, Malaysia, practice, Selangor, university studentAbstract
Healthy eating is one of the ways of disease prevention around the world. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of healthy eating and their associated factors among university students in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. A cross sectional study was carried out from May 2012 until February 2013 in one public university and two selected private universities in Hulu Langat District, Selangor. A total of 300 diploma and degree students aged 18 to 25 years old were selected using simple random sampling. Anthropometric measurement and self-administered questionnaire adopted from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia were used as the study tools. The prevalence of good knowledge was 74.0%, good attitude was 80.3%, but good practice was only 22.0%. The factors associated with good knowledge were female gender (POR = 0.42, CI 0.25; 0.70), degree study level (POR = 2.42, CI 1.30; 4.51) and awareness on the Malaysian Dietary Guideline (MDG) (POR = 2.02, CI 1.17; 3.49). Factors associated with good attitude were respondents’ place of living in hostel (POR = 0.37, CI 0.17; 0.81), awareness on MDG (POR = 1.94, CI 1.06; 3.58) and awareness on Malaysian Food Pyramid (POR= 3.45, CI 1.49; 7.98). Meanwhile, the only factor associated with good practice was low family income (p<0.05). In conclusion, there was a good level of knowledge and attitude of healthy eating among university students in Malaysia, but not in the practice of healthy eating. Further strategies are needed to increase the practice of healthy eating especially among the students of high and middle income family.
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