Association between Sociodemographic Factors and Nutritional Knowledge among Working Mothers in Terengganu

Abstract

Broadly defined, nutrition knowledge relates to understanding concepts and processes connected to nutrition and health, such as diet and health, diet and disease, main nutrient sources, and dietary guidelines and recommendations. This study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic factors (age, educational level, marital status, salary income, location, type of job, and family members) and nutritional knowledge among working mothers in Terengganu. This cross-sectional study collected sociodemographic information and nutritional knowledge using General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire among 281 working mothers aged 19 to 60 years old. The results show the majority of the participants (70%) had good scores, 23.8% had excellent scores, 6.4% had an average score and 0.4% had poor scores respectively. The prevalence of nutritional knowledge among working mothers in Terengganu was excellent as they were 93.2% scored for high nutritional knowledge, and only 6.8% scored for low nutritional knowledge. Furthermore, there was a significant association between sociodemographic factors (age, educational level, marital status, and salary income) with nutritional knowledge among working mothers in Terengganu. Meanwhile, there was no significant association between sociodemographic factors (location, type of job, and family members) with nutritional knowledge among working mothers in Terengganu. A nutritious diet helps to maintain healthy body weight, promotes favourable pregnancy outcomes, supports normal growth, development, and aging, and minimizes the risk of chronic disease, all of which contribute to overall health and well-being. Therefore, nutritional knowledge should be widely disseminated to Malaysians of all ages.