Nutritional Knowledge and Dietary Behaviors and Intakes of Vietnamese Marriage Immigrant Women According to Receiving of Nutritional Education

Abstract

This study was to investigate nutritional knowledge and dietary behaviors and intakes of Vietnamese marriage immigrant women according to receiving of nutritional education. A total of 233 Vietnamese marriage immigrants were recruited from public health centers, and multicultural family support centers in Seoul Metropolitan areas, and the Seoul Immigration Office. The methods included anthropometric measurements and face‐to‐face interview by a structured questionnaire. The mean weight and BMI of those who had experienced nutritional education were higher than those without such experience. With regard to dietary management, those with nutritional education showed a more balanced diet and higher total scores on the Mini Dietary Assessment compared to those without nutritional education (p<0.001). For nutritional knowledge, subjects with nutritional education showed higher scores on questions about function of cereals (p=0.010) and meat and fish (p=0.010), as well as a higher overall score (p=0.004) than those without. With regard to food intake, there were significant differences in nutritional intakes of iron (p=0.009), sodium (p=0.008), vitamin A (p=0.029), vitamin B2 (p=0.047), vitamin C (p=0.012), and cholesterol (p=0.037). The subjects having experience with nutritional education had more balanced dietary habits, and nutritional knowledge, and greater food and nutrient intake compared to the subjects without such experience. Systematic and continuous nutritional education should be provided to establish a healthy diet for marriage immigrant women and her multicultural family members. This study was supported by the grant from National Research Foundation of Korea (2011‐0014986)