Parents' Knowledge on Nutrition and Meal-Providing Behavior for Preschool Children at a Public School in Chumphon Province

Abstract

     The purposes of this survey study were to investigate: 1) parents’ knowledge on the nutrition of preschool children, 2) behavior concerning the provision of meals to preschool children, and 3) the relationship between parents’ knowledge on nutrition and the meal-providing behavior. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 400 preschooler’s parents from a public school in Chumphon province. A questionnaire was used for data collection. Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis was 0.90. Analysis utilized percentage, mean, and Pearson product- moment correlation coefficient. The results showed that 52.8 percent of preschooler’s parents had a high level of knowledge on nutrition and 40.2 percent always provided meals for their preschool children. A statistically significant, low, positive relationship between parents’ knowledge on nutrition and meal-providing behavior for preschool children of a public school in Chumphon province at .01 level was found (r = .21, p = .000).