A sample of 200 students in the College of Health Sciences in Bahrain were interviewed to determine their knowledge and attitudes towards obesity.  In general, the nursing students have better knowledge and attitudes than secondary students.  However, some unsound attitudes towards obesity exist, suggesting more nutrition education programme in the mass media to correct unsound beliefs related to obesity.

Bahrain Med Bull 2000;22(3):

Sound knowledge and attitudes toward health problems is an essential component for health curricula in medical and nursing schools.  Studies in the Arabian Gulf states1-3 showed that a large proportion of the community believes in unsound information regarding obesity and other chronic diseases.  Therefore, one step to correct this unsound information is to include appropriate knowledge on health and diseases into the undergraduate curriculum.  The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitudes of Bahraini nursing students towards obesity.
 

METHODS

Nursing students in the College of Health Sciences in Bahrain were the target group of this study.  The sample size comprised of  200 students with a mean age of 20.4+3.1 years.  The students were asked to answer a specially designed questionnaire consisting of eight statements regarding obesity as reported by Musaiger2.  The attitudes of students were measured using a three-point scale ranging from agree, do not know, to disagree.  Data were entered in a D-base file and analysed using the EPI-INFO software programme4.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The attitudes of nursing students towards obesity are illustrated in Table 1.  In general, nursing students have better knowledge and attitudes compared to secondary students in Bahrain1, indicating that health curriculum in the College of Health Sciences may play a role in providing sound health and nutrition information.  The highest percentage of agreement was observed in the statement "Sauna baths help in reducing the fat of the body" (33%), and the statement" plump women are more acceptable to men than non-plump women", (22.5%).  These statements also received the highest proportion of "do not know", indicating that a relatively large percentage of nursing students needs further information to correct their attitudes to these statements.  However, a high proportion of students studied disagreed with many unsound statements, especially those related to the drinking of water and obesity, skipping breakfast and eating one meal a day to reduce weight.

       Table 1.  Attitudes towards obesity by Bahraini nursing students

The belief that plump women are more acceptable to men still exists in Bahrain.  This finding confirmed that by Musaiger in women in Oman5 and in female university students in the United Arab Emirates2.  This unsound belief may encourage some girls to keep their extra weight, which can lead to more accumulation of body fat in future.  Mass media should play an important role in correcting unsound  beliefs and attitudes toward obesity.  Curricula in schools and colleges should contain adequate information to correct the wrong health and nutrition beliefs that are widely spread in the community.

REFERENCES

1. Musaiger AO, Mattar AM, AlEkri SA, et al. Knowledge and attitudes of Bahraini adolescents towards obesity.  J Consum Stud Home Econ 1991;15:321-25.
2. Musaiger AO.  Knowledge and attitudes of university female students toward obesity.  Int Quart Common Hlth Educ 1994;14:337-43.
3. Al-Shoshan AA.  Some sociodemograhic factors influencing the nutritional awareness of the Saudi teens and adults, preliminary observation.  J Roy Soc Hlth 1990;6:213-16.
4. WHO/CDC.  EPI-INFO Software Programme/World Health Organization and Center for Diseases Control.  Atlanta:USA, 1995.
5. Musaiger AO.  Health and Nutritional Status of Omani Families. UNICEF/Muscat Office:Oman, 1992.
 

  

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