Background: The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices on malnutrition of young adults in Bugaan West, Laurel, Batangas, and to correlate these with their nutritional status.
Methods: The study employed quantitative correlational research. From a total of 797 young adults in Bugaan West, Laurel, Batangas, at least 86 respondents were determined as sample size using Random Sampling. The present data were collected by a structured self-administered questionnaire. The KAP scores and nutritional status were correlated using the Spearman Rank
Order Analysis.
Results: Of the total 86 respondents, results revealed that 70.93% had good knowledge, 24.42% had fair knowledge, and 4.65% had poor knowledge on malnutrition. However, 65.12% of the study population believed the misconception that malnutrition and undernutrition are similar terms, while 74.42% believed that overweight and obesity are similar terms. Results also revealed that 82.56% of the study population had favorable attitudes, while 17.44% had moderately favorable attitudes. Nevertheless, it was also revealed that it is estimated only around 54.65% and 56.98% had self-confidence in preventing undernutrition and overnutrition, respectively. For practices, a survey on the food frequency showed that 66.28%, 77.91%, and 70.93% had estimated low intake of high-fat, high-sodium, and high-sugar foods, respectively. The KAP of the respondents showed a very weak association and, however, no significance, as correlated to their nutritional status.
Conclusion: Results showed that the young adults had an acceptable knowledge and attitude on malnutrition. Results also showed that the majority of the young adults had low frequency intake on high-fat, high-sodium, and high-sugar food groups. Further similar studies may be conducted to verify the insignificant results on the correlation of the young adults' KAP and nutritional status. As well, further investigations can be conducted on the gaps in knowledge and attitudes of the young adults such as the misconceptions on malnutrition terminologies and self-confidence in preventing malnutrition.