A Study to Assess the Prevalence of Anemia and Knowledge Regarding Anemia among Adolescent Girls of Selected Schools of Gurugram, Haryana

Abstract

Background: Anemia is a major nutritional health problem in developing countries like India because of poor dietary habits and malnutrition. The prevalence of anemia is inordinately higher among adolescents as they are signalized by marked physical activity and rapid growth spurt; therefore they need additional nutritional supplements and are at utmost risk of developing nutritional anemia. Materials and Methods:A quantitative research approach with descriptive Research design was adopted for the study. A total of 86 adolescent girls studying in Vinay public school, Gurugram, Haryana who met the inclusion criteria were selected using total enumerative sampling technique. The tools consists of demographic variables, knowledge questionnaire and Sahli's hemoglobinometer to assess the knowledge and prevalence regarding anemia.Reliability of the tool was established by Cronbach's alpha method and it was found to be 0.84Ethical permission was obtained from ethical committee SGT University and the written informed consent was taken from each participant before administering the tool Results: Findings of the present study revealed that majority 81% adolescent girls have poor level of knowledge followed by 19% adolescent girls have moderate level of knowledge regarding anemia. Overall prevalence and knowledge regarding anemia has range value varied from of 3-16 with mean 9.8 and standard deviation 2.88. The area of residence had significant difference on knowledge score regarding anemia in adolescent girls when P value is ≤ 0.05. Conclusion:Knowledge level affects the prevalence rate of anemia in adolescent girls. Majority of adolescent girls have poor level of knowledge. Most of adolescent girls fall under moderate category of anemia.