Assessment Of Health Belief Determinants Of Eating Disorder Among Adolescents In Umuahia South Local Government Area Abia State:- Iheanyi, Chisom P

Abstract This of health belief model to assess eating disorder among study assessed to ascertain the use of health belief model to assess eaung adolescents. Eating disorder represent a critical and growing public health issue worldwide, wi h significant physical, psychological, and social implications. The design that was used in this study is a cross-sectional descriptive design of adolescents attending secon ary sc oo m Umuahia South Local Government Area, Abia State. Stratified sampling was used to stratify adolescent by sex in mixed schools and this were help in getting both sexes represented in mixed secondary schools. Simple random sampling were used to select the number of adolescents per sex in each school. The anthropometric measurement (height, weight of the respondent) was obtained using heightometer and bathroom scale respectively. Weight and height was used to calculate their body mass index (BMI). Children were classified as under-weight, stunted, and thin if z-scores for weight-for-age, height-for-age and BMI-for-age was less than or equal to 2SD below the WHO median ofstandards for age and sex respectively. The data was entered and" analysed using the statistical package IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the socio-economic and demographic characteristics, dietary pattern, sociocultural and knowledge factor and Anthropometric status and the results were presented in frequencies and percentage. The result of the study examined the health belief characteristics and food consumption pattern among 207 adolescents in the south eastern part of Nigeria. The research revealed significant insights into nutritional awareness and dietary habits. According to the study, the majority, with 53.6% of respondents being female and 46.4% male, 97.6% were Christians, 91.8% were ofIgbo majority, 22.7% ofthe respondents reside in households with 4-6 members. Parental occupations varied. For fathers, civil service (34.3%) and trading (25.6%) were the most For mothers, trading (42.0%) and civil service (30.0%) were the most common occupations, The educational attainment of parents was relatively high. For fathers, tertiary education (47.4%) was the most common level of education, followed by secondary education (36.7%). For mothers, tertiary education (41.5%) was also the most common. However, significant anthropometric status were persisted with many respondent (96.1%) were classified as having normal height-for-age, a significant proportion (25.1%) were overweight for their age, while a small percentage (7.7%) were severely wasted, (66.7%) perceive themselves as slim, while a smaller proportion (10.6%) perceive themselves as fat. Adolescents moderately agreed that they found it difficult to resist disordered eating behaviors (Mean = 2.34, SD = 1.751) and that factors like the cost of healthy foods (Mean = 2.79, SD = 1.308) Social economic factors had a weak correlation with nutritional awareness and food consumption, indicating a cultural and regional factors predominantly shaped dietary habits and anthropometry status. Based on conclusion and findings, the complex interplay between socioeconomic factors, food choices, and nutritional outcomes. Socioeconomic characteristics, such as father's occupation, ethnicity, type of housing, and access to drinking water, emerged as significant predictors of anthropometric status, particularly height-for-age and BMI-for-age. It recommends that Public health professionals should focus on developing targeted nutrition education programs that address the socio-demographic and economic constraints faced by different populations