A STUDY OF NURSES' ATTITUDES TOWARD MATERNAL NUTRITION EDUCATION IN A NIGERIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL.
Contributors: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 107
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The importance and implications of nutrition to human health have been recognized. Many studies exist that discuss the effects of different food nutrients on both health and illness. While food considerations in most developed countries have shifted emphasis from quantitative to qualitative, many developing countries still have problems of food supply.

Even in the midst of short supplies of food as exists in developing countries, the need for quality rather than quantity is high. Careful choice of local food to acquire optimum and healthful nutrients cannot be over emphasized.

This study recognizes the necessity for all members of any society to be appropriately educated about what they eat. However, it focuses on the importance of nutrition education of pregnant women in Nigera--a developing country. The main objective was to determine the attitudes of nurses toward maternal nutrition education since nurses in Nigeria are heavily involved in maternal health care.

Because of the nonexistence of instruments to measure the attitudes of nurses toward maternal nutrition, the researcher developed an instrument for this purpose. The reliability of the instrument was coefficient alpha r = 0.63. It was administered to a group of nurses who work in a Nigerian general hospital, Nigeria. Frequencies, means, and percentages were used to report the result.

The findings of the study showed that the nurses consider maternal nutrition education important for the health of both mother and fetus. They also agreed that pregnant women need to be educated on how to prepare various local foods. No differences were found between the nurses educational qualifications and their score on the attitude scale. The nurses also identified some obstacles to maternal nutrition education. Methods used in the process of maternal nutrition education were identified.

Recommendations were made on how insights provided by this study should be used in the improvement of maternal health through nutrition education. As a result of these findings, it is considered important that qualified nutritionists and dieticians be included in the teaching staff of nursing schools in Nigeria.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: A, page: 2465.

Thesis (PH.D.)--SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY AT CARBONDALE, 1986.

School code: 0209.