From Care to Practice: Linking Nutrition Care with Adolescent Nutritional Practices in Wakiso District, Uganda

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the link between nutrition care and nutritional practices among school-going adolescents in Wakiso District, Uganda. Study Design: A sequential mixed methods design was employed in this study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted in Nansana Municipality, one of the major urban local governments in Uganda. The domain of study was secondary schools in Nansana Municipality. The data collection was conducted between November 2024 to April 2025. Study Variables: The study variables considered in this study included a range of demographic factors such as gender, age, residence status, and the class of adolescent students, as well as their religious affiliations. For biology teachers, information was extracted on their education levels, years of experience, age, and gender. Furthermore, nutritional care provided by the teachers, as reported by the adolescent students, measured the independent variables while their practices featured as dependent variables. Methodology: The study included 1174 adolescent students and 45 science teachers. These were in senior one to senior three in different schools within the municipality. Data collection was done with the aid of a structured questionnaire. It was entered into MS. Excel and later imported into Stata version 18.0 for data analysis. The questions were in the form of a 5-point Likert to allow easy aggregation of the item constructs and support quantitative data analysis. Univariate data analysis was performed using frequency tables to provide a distribution of adolescent students' characteristics. Furthermore, bar charts and boxplots helped in ascertaining the most common nutritional care provided to the adolescents by the teachers. Finally, a multivariable model, particularly the binary logistic regression model, was employed after preliminary results revealed a binomial family individual distribution identification. Results: A strong link was found between nutrition care and nutritional practices. Results indicated that adolescents who received excellent nutritional care were 6.69 times more likely to promote positive practices compared to those with poor care. Similarly, those with good care had 3.65 times higher odds, while those with fair care had 3.48 times higher odds. This demonstrates that even moderate improvements in nutritional care significantly increase the likelihood of adopting healthier practices. Furthermore, teachers’ educational level was found to be an important factor. Those with a PhD were 16.35 times more likely to promote nutritional practices compared to diploma holders, while those with a Master’s degree were 4.37 times more likely. However, teachers with a Bachelor’s degree did not show a significant difference compared to diploma or certificate holders. Lastly, results showed that each additional year of teaching experience nearly doubled the odds of promoting nutritional practices. This suggests that accumulated experience equips teachers with the knowledge, skills, and credibility to more effectively influence adolescents toward healthier dietary behaviors.