knowledge and degree of anemia among adolescent girls

Abstract

A Comparative study was conducted to assess the knowledge and degree of anemia among adolescent girls in selected rural and urban schools in Kerala. The primary objectives of the study were: to measure the haemoglobin level of adolescents by using sahly’s haemoglobinometer, and to assess the knowledge regarding anemia among adolescents by using structured questionnaire . A Comparative research design was used to compare two groups on the basis of their knowledge and degree of anemia among the participants. The adolescent girls of age group between 13-16 years with Hb less than 10gm/dl studying in the 8th and 9th standard of one rural and one urban schools were selected as the sample for the present study. The sample were selected by using proportionate stratified random sampling.
The present study concludes that among 50 adolescent girls 56% were anemic in rural school and among 50 adolescent girls 50% were anemic in urban school, Among 50 subjects in urban school 4% had poor knowledge, 90% had average knowledge and only 6% had good knowledge whereas, among 50 subjects in rural school 8% had poor knowledge, 88% had average knowledge and only 4% had good knowledge regarding anemia, In the present study there was a negative correlation (p=0.01) between the knowledge and predisposing factor. In the present study the comparison of the degree of anemia among rural and urban school revealed no significant difference at 0.05 level. The study findings concludes that degree of anemia among urban and rural schools were almost same, the predisposing factors regarding anemia were poor intake of green leafy vegetables, skipping of breakfast and tiredness during menstruation and it was found to have a negative correlation between knowledge and predisposing factors of anemia.