A Comparison of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Related to Milk and Dairy Products among Male and Female Orphanage Adolescents in Kuantan, Pahang

Abstract

Background: Adequate milk and dairy products intake throughout life is essential particularly among adolescents for their growth and bone health due to dietary calcium content. Nevertheless, research regarding knowledge, attitude and practices related to milk and dairy products among Malaysian orphanage adolescents according to gender is scarce. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices towards milk and dairy products among male and female residents of orphanage institutions.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, seventy (n=70) secondary school-age adolescents (13-17 years old) were recruited through convenience sampling from five (n=5) orphanage institutions in Kuantan, Pahang. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic information, knowledge, attitude and practices of milk and dairy products. The data were analyzed with SPSS software using chi-square and independent t-tests, at the statistically significant level of p<0.05.

Results: The mean (± SD) knowledge score was 7.87 ± 1.23.  Most respondents were categorized in good knowledge category with the percentage of 70% (n=49), 25.7% (n=18) in the moderate category and only 4.3% (n=3) of them score in the poor category. Positive attitudes were demonstrated in more than 50% respondents, although misconception that milk contributes to weight gain was identified. About 48.5% (n=34) participants drink milk every day, but only 21.4 % of subjects (n=15) or approximately only one in five of the respondents consumed two glasses of milk per day. No significant gender differences were identified for knowledge, attitude and practices.

Conclusion: Majority adolescents in orphanage institutions showed good knowledge and positive attitudes on milk and dairy products, but lower intake than recommendation with no differences by gender. Nutrition education and institutional supports are warranted to enhance dairy intake for optimal growth in this population.