Mortality resulting from under-nutrition among under-five
children globally is unprecedented and factors influencing the
poor nutritional status among this age group needs to be
looked into as nutritional status of the under-five is of great
importance since this period of life is considered a pivotal for
their adequate growth. The main objective of this study was to
assess the socio-cultural factors influencing the nutritional
status of under-five children in selected rural communities in
Akure North L.G.A, Ondo State. The targeted population was
women between the age ranges of 18- 49 years who were
currently nursing under-five children. Kish Leslie (1965)
single proportion population formula was used to calculate
the sample size of 377. A simple random sampling method was
used to select four villages out of 12 autonomous villages in the
local government. The exponential non-discriminative
snowball sampling technique was used to select the
respondents. Data collection was done by using an
unstructured questionnaire having tested its validity and
reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive (frequency,
percentages) and mean including standard deviation
statistics. The demographic characteristic of this study shows
that majority of the respondents are between ages 25 to 29
(36.3%), business is their occupation (39.5%) and had tertiary
education (27.1%). Majority of the respondents are married
(83.6%), catholic by religion (53.3%) with 2 children
(32.1%).This study therefore indicates that unemployment and
low wages (62%), cheaper and less nutritious food (70%),
poor education (X=3.19), traditional breast feeding practices
(58.4%) and feeding patterns (X= 2.95) were socio-cultural
factors influencing the nutritional status of under-five
children. The study concluded that the above identified factors
have strong negative influence on the nutritional status of the
under-five children, hence, the community health nurses
should do more in educating the women on the danger posed
by the identified factors to the nutritional status of their
children and steps to reducing their impacts on their wards
should be encouraged.
- OYEWUMI | ZACCHEUS | OPEYEMI | zooyewumi@lautech.edu.ng | +2348037689685, AKINBOWALE | BUSAYO | TEMILOLA | Busayo.akinbowale@uniosun.edu.ng | +2348034125952, OYEWUMI | LYDIA | OMOWUMI | looyewumi@lautech.edu.ng | +2347039026486
- Socio-cultural; under-five Children; Nutritional Status
- SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS INFLUENCING NUTRITIONAL STATUS
