Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Change about Anemia after Intensive Health Education among Adolescent School Girls of Delhi: An Intervention Study

Background: Anemia is very common worldwide among adolescent girls. WHO Regional office for South-East Asia sketched that “Iron deficiency anemia is the most glaring nutritional deficiency, with no less than 25-40% of adolescent girls as victims of moderate and sometimes severe anemia. In countries of this region, at least 40-50% of adolescent pregnant girls are anemic”. According to study conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research adolescent girls from 16 districts of 11 states of India showed that, the prevalence of anemia was 90.1% and 7.1% having severe anemia (Hb < 70 g/L). Adolescence being a rapid transition phase with high requirement of additional nutrition. Anemia among adolescent girls develops due to accelerated increase in the requirements for iron, coupled with poor dietary intake, menstrual loss high rate of infection and worm infestation. Objectives: This study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and health seeking behavior change regarding anemia after weekly iron folic acid supplementation and intensive health education among adolescent school girls of Delhi. Materials and Methods: This was an intervention study conducted among adolescent school girls of Delhi. The study was conducted among 106 adolescent school girls of XI class by administering a pre-tested questionnaire based on the following four domains – knowledge, attitude, practices and health seeking behavior regarding anemia. Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) and intensive health education was given for six months as an intervention. Health education package included power point presentation, pamphlets and visual display of iron rich foods like green leafy vegetables, germinated pulses (sprouts), citrus fruits and jaggery. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS software version 17. Results: Only 34.9 percent girls had heard about anemia and 38.9 percent felt that anemia is a health problem. When asked for the reasons for anemia, around 8 (7.5%) could answer correctly. There was change in knowledge, practices and health seeking behavior after the intervention and was statistically significant. Conclusion: WIFS and intensive health education intervention has an impact on improving knowledge, attitude, practices and health seeking behavior of adolescent school girls. Additional nutritional interventional research is needed to reinforce good practices to prevent anemia.