FACTORS INFLUENCING BREAKFAST INTAKE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IBADAN NORTH-EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Breakfast is the first meal of the day. It has been shown to have effects on diet, health and cognition. However, despite its importance, breakfast consumption has been observed to be on a decline in recent times. Globally, research on intake of Breakfast (IOB) has mainly been carried out among primary school pupils and undergraduates, but not much has been done among secondary school students. This study was aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude, perception, practice and other factors influencing the IOB among secondary school students in lbadan North East Area, Nigeria. This is descriptive cross sectional study involving a four stage sampling technique in selecting 348 students from six schools (4 public and 2 private) based on proportionate allocation from schools, classes and arms. A pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to elicit information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, perception, practice and other factors influencing the IOB among students. Students' knowledge and attitude were measured using 10-point scale each, while 12- point and 18 point scales were used to measure practice and perception respectively. Scores of <8 and ≥8 were classified poor and good knowledge respectively. Scores of <8 and <9 were classified as negative scores for attitude and perception respectively. Scores ≥12 were classified as good practice. Six Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted among the students, one in each school. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi square and logistic regression at 5% significance level while the FDGs were analysed using thematic approach. Respondents' age was 14.1±2.0 years; 49.4% were males, 33.3% were from private schools and 42.0% were in junior secondary classes. Many respondents (49.1%) had mothers with tertiary education while 52.8% had fathers who had tertiary education. The knowledge score was 7.6±2.3. Majority of the respondents (66.7%) had good knowledge towards the importance of breakfast. About 89.0% had positive attitude towards IOB and 54.9% had positive perception towards breakfast. Over half (58.6%) of respondents had good time of consuming breakfast between the hours of 6:00a.m and 9:00a.m. Majority (87.4%) ate their breakfast on the day the research was conducted and majority of the foods consumed were made from carbohydrates. The respondents who had positive attitude, 53.9% were males and 46.1% were females. Respondents whose mothers had no formal education were more likely to have poor knowledge towards the importance of breakfast than respondents whose mothers had no formal education (OR:6.03, CI: 1.12-32.38). Other reasons that promoted breakfast include availability of food at home (89.9%), mothers having time to prepare breakfast (86.2%) arid parents' financial buoyancy (79.2%). The FDGs revealed that not eating breakfast may make one weak, leading to lack of concentration in class, and later to illnesses. Findings from this study documented that the students had good knowledge and positive attitude towards breakfast consumption which influenced their practice among secondary school students. There is need for awareness through public enlightenment programs on the sustainability of breakfast consumption among the students.