The Relationship Between Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (NKAP), Self-Efficacy of Healthy Eating with Body Mass Index (BMI) Status Among Undergraduate Students in USM Kubang Kerian, Kelantan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Healthy eating is an approach to prevent obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to determine the level of nutrition knowledge, attitude, and practice (NKAP), level of self-efficacy of healthy eating, and their relationship with body mass index (BMI) among undergraduate students in USM Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.Study Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 107 undergraduate students aged 19 to 28 years old, selected using convenience sampling in USM Kubang Kerian, Kelantan from August 2021 until October 2021. A self-administered questionnaire including the KAP questionnaire and self-efficacy of the healthy eating scale was distributed to the participants via Google Form. Findings: The prevalence of good knowledge was 95.3%, good attitude was 79.4% but good practice was only 36.4%. Overall, the prevalence of nutrition knowledge, attitude, and practice (NKAP) was good at 82.2%. The total median score of self-efficacies in healthy eating was 28.0 (7.0). A significant association was found between the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods with practice (p=0.012, p=0.019). Moreover, a significant association was found between age and awareness of the Malaysian Food Pyramid with NKAP (p=0.039, p=0.005 respectively). Hence, a significant association was found between NKAP and self-efficacy of healthy eating (p=0.008). However, the present study revealed that there was no significant association between NKAP with BMI, and self-efficacy of healthy eating with BMI (p=0.541, p=0.064).Conclusion: We found that having good nutrition knowledge and attitude alone was insufficient for the changes in individuals' healthy eating practices as most university students had suboptimal eating behaviour in their daily lifestyle. Therefore, strategies were needed to practice good and healthy eating among university students.