Oyewole O E, Dipeolu I O, Muritala M A
Afr J Med Med Sci. 2016 May;45(1):75-82.
Studies have established that growth of children usually falters during the preschool age when the child is usually left in the hands of other care givers; as parents go to work. Feeding of the preschool children is sometimes solely under the care of Day Care Staff (DCS) whoselevel of knowledge and practice of nutritional care is unknown. Knowledge and practices of nutritional care among DCS in selected preschools were investigated.
A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used and 400 DCS were randomly selected for interview. A validated questionnaire with 50-point knowledge scale was used to collect information from the target population and this was complemented with observational checklist to assess the level of practice of nutritional care and environmental hygiene. Data obtained were analysed using both univariate and bivariate analyses including Chi-square test at p=0.05 level of significance.
Most of the DCS were female (97.5%) and 47.5% specialised in child education. Few (28.8% and 25.0%) of the DCS had ever received training on child nutritional care during pre-service and in- service training, respectively. Only 20.0% of DCS had good knowledge of nutritional care, which reflected in the activities observed. Age was significantly associated with knowledge of preschool nutritional care..
Knowledge of day care staff on nutritional care of preschool children was found to be poorer as the age of staff increases. This may also contribute to the poor practices observed. Training on nutritional care among day care staff, especially the older ones is suggested.
研究表明，在学龄前阶段，由于父母上班，孩子通常由其他照顾者照料，此时儿童的生长发育往往会受到影响。学龄前儿童的喂养有时完全由日托工作人员负责，而他们在营养护理方面的知识水平和实践情况尚不清楚。本研究调查了选定幼儿园中日托工作人员的营养护理知识和实践情况。
采用描述性横断面研究设计，随机选取400名日托工作人员进行访谈。使用一份经过验证的、具有50分知识量表的问卷从目标人群中收集信息，并辅以观察清单来评估营养护理和环境卫生的实践水平。所获数据采用单变量和双变量分析，包括在显著性水平p = 0.05下的卡方检验。
大多数日托工作人员为女性（97.5%），47.5%的人专门从事儿童教育。分别只有少数（28.8%和25.0%）的日托工作人员在入职前和在职培训期间接受过儿童营养护理方面的培训。只有20.0%的日托工作人员具备良好的营养护理知识，这在观察到的活动中有所体现。年龄与学龄前儿童营养护理知识显著相关。
发现日托工作人员对学龄前儿童营养护理的知识随着工作人员年龄的增加而更差。这也可能导致观察到的不良实践。建议对日托工作人员，尤其是年龄较大的工作人员进行营养护理方面的培训。
