Introduction
As per WHO, Adolescence is defined as the second decade of life, between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Adolescence is a phase during which tremendous physical and psychological changes occur, along with changes in social perceptions and expectations. Adolescents are distinct from children or adults. Although all adolescents pass through a transition phase, their experiences are diverse as they constitute a heterogeneous group. They differ in terms of age, sex, marital status, schooling levels, residence and socio-economic status which consequently determine their behavior. The familial environments in which adolescents grow also have a tremendous impact on them and their diverse needs.
Adolescence is an age of opportunity for children, and a pivotal time for us to build on their development and help them navigate risks and vulnerabilities, and to set them on the path to fulfilling their potential.1
The world is home to 1.2 billion individuals aged 10–19 years. These adolescents have lived most or all of their lives under the Millennium Declaration, the unprecedented global compact that since 2000 has sought a better world for all.2
Adolescent numbers have more than doubled since 1950.The vast majority of adolescents – 88 per cent – live in developing countries. Adolescents today are confronted with a rapidly changing world, and face a range of health, social and economic challenges. Some adolescents have greater access to education and information and a growing ability to make well informed choices about their lives. On the other hand social and economic deprivation for many other adolescents means malnourishment, lack of education, unemployment, underemployment and the inability to develop and live to its full potential.
Developing adolescents’ capacities and values through education can enable an entire generation to become economically independent, positive contributors to society. Investing in education and training for adolescents and young people is perhaps the single most promising action is to end extreme poverty during this decade.
Education can also have a strong impact on promoting gender equality and improving maternal health. Data for 24 sub-Saharan African countries show that adolescent girls with secondary education are six times less likely to be married than girls with little or no education. They are also three times less likely to get pregnant than their peers with only primary education.5 In developing countries, women who have completed secondary education or higher are more likely to have a skilled attendant present at delivery than their counterparts, thereby improving their children’s chances of survival. 2 Adolescent girls form an important vulnerable and neglected sector of the Indian population. Imparting nutrition education can have positive effect on increasing knowledge scores of adolescent girls. 3
The tribal belt in Gujarat consists of the district of Dang, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Panchmahals, Sabarkantha and Banaskantha. Approximately 8 million persons comprising 15% of Gujarat population is tribal. Tribes of Gujarat includes Bhil, Rathwa, Vasawa, Gamit and Koli .Health of the scheduled tribes in Gujarat is significantly worse than other population groups. They are economically and socially backward and they have their own way of living and different socio- cultural and eco-geographically settings. 4 Investment in adolescents has many advantages as it helps them first, makes them healthy citizens and also contributes for healthy future generation. 5
Documentation of the tribal adolescent’s knowledge on nutrition is scanty. Hence, there is a need to impart NHE to the tribal adolescent towards healthy aging for improving the quality of life.
Thus, tribal adolescents need to be educated about healthy living which would in long run help to maintain and expand their quality of life and also to indirectly benefit the adolescents to lead healthy life.
It is along these lines the present study was desired. The aim was to assess the training needs of tribal school going adolescents and integration of basic aspects of Foods and Nutrition in the school curriculum,
Table 1
Integration of Health and Nutrition topics in School curriculum
Table 2
Informationon the knowledge assessment of the tribal adolescents about the basics of Foodsand Nutrition
Table 0
Material and Methods
The study was approved by the Department Medical Ethics Committee (No. F. C. Sc /FND/ME/62) (30/9/10) as a part of the study “Tackling the challenges in the Child health and Nutrition: Behavior change communication models in different settings.”
Study site
Government Ashramshala, situated in a village Gamdi in Sankheda Taluka of Vadodara, Gujaratwas selected for thestudy. An Ashramsahla is place where students study and also resides. The Ashramshala run by Mangalbharti is for tribal children of Vadodara district and which has secondary and Higher secondary divisions under Uttarbuniyadi (Vocational stream).
Sampling technique
Purposive sampling
Information on the socio-demographic profile of the subjects was collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Information regarding age, sex, religion, family composition, parent’s education and occupation, housing condition, per capita income, etc. was collected. Data on health and nutrition topics in their curriculum was assessed. The students were given a set of questions regarding various aspects related to foods and nutrition and then they were asked to fill this questionnaire. This activity was done to know the level of their awareness regarding basics of foods and nutrition.
Results
Data on health and nutrition topics in their curriculum was assessed. The Table 1 states the health and nutrition topics studied by the tribal adolescents as a part of their school curriculum. This detailing was done to know whether the tribal adolescents have a basic idea of foods and nutrition or not. it can be seen that at least 1-2 topics on health and nutrition were present in the text books of 5th -9th standard.
Knowledge on basics of foods and nutrition
The students were given a set of questions regarding various aspects related to foods and nutrition and then they were asked to fill this questionnaire. This activity was done to know the level of their awareness regarding basics of foods and nutrition.
As per the data shown in false , majorities of the boys (44%) and girls (50%) were able to correctly define food, mention the importance of a balanced diet (boy 40% and girls 50%) and also were able to identify consequences of an inadequate diet (boys 50% and girls 40%).
More than half of them had a partial knowledge regarding No. of meals to be consumed/day. Less than half of the boys (48%) gave partially correct answers regarding functions of food where as more than (60%) of the girls were not aware. About basic nutrients, boys (53%) had a higher knowledge as compared to the girls (45%).
Knowledge regarding definition of a balanced diet, concept of healthy foods and knowledge regarding anemia and sources of iron was very poor.
From the false, it is clear that majority of the boys and girls had a poor knowledge regarding the basics of foods and nutrition.
Discussion
Present study has focused on knowledge aspects of basics of foods and nutrition among tribal school going adolescents. It was found that knowledge level on basics of foods and nutrition requires improvement. A Study was conducted by Das & Bisai to assess the prevalence of under nutrition among Telaga adolescents in Orissa reported the mean BMI of children had shown a consistently increasing trend in both sexes from age of 13 years onwards. Moreover, there is a gender bias in favor of girls in higher mean BMI at all ages except 10 and 13 years. The overall prevalence of under nutrition was 28.60%. The rates were significantly higher among boys (37.59%) compared with girls (19.43%). In conclusion, nutritional status of the studied children is not impressive especially among early adolescent and boys, respectively. There is urgent need intervention strategy through community based nutrition awareness. 6
ICRISAT after following established protocols revealed that both boys and girls lack basic awareness about food, nutrition health and overall well-being. When asked which foods contained energy, vitamins or proteins, none of the adolescents who participated in the focus group discussions (FGDs) were able to properly categorize the different foods according to their nutrients. 7
Similar study was done by Gupta and Kochar et al, who concluded that nutrition education is an important measure to improve dietary habits and food choices of adolescents mainly girls as poor dietary habits and ignorance are the main reason for poor nutritional status of adolescent girls. It would not only improve health but the future generation would also be influenced as they are the future mothers. 8 National data from NFHS 4 and CNNS data also depicts poor nutritional status of adolescent boys and girls. 9, 10
One of the determinants of poor nutritional status is lack of correct knowledge about foods and nutrition, hence sensitizing youth for the same is very crucial.
Conclusions
Knowledge of tribal school going adolescents regarding basics of foods and nutrition topics needs improvement though some of the topics appeared in school curriculum.. To increase the awareness regarding the same, more topics on foods and nutrition should be integrated in school curriculum of secondary and higher secondary divisions.