Dietary status of lactating women. II. Relation of nutritional knowledge and attitudes to nutritional intake.

Dietary practices of sixty-one nursing mothers who had been breast-feeding their infants an average of four months were examined in relation to their knowledge of nutrition and their attitudes about nutrition, taking vitamin supplements, meal preparation, and meal planning. The women were fairly knowledgeable about nutrition, and most exhibited an attitude that "nutrition is important". Nutritional knowledge, as measured by performance on a reliable test instrument, correlated well with the attitude that "nutrition is important" and with education. Nutritional knowledge also correlated well with four dietary factors used as dependent variables. Associations between nutrition-related attitudes and dietary factors were much less strong. Path analysis was used to test the knowledge-to-attitudes-to-behavior paradigm. Results, using multiple regression analysis, indicated that this model was not supported by the data. Rather, path analysis supported the model of attitudes-to-knowledge-to-behavior. This research suggests that nutrition education programs should adopt, as a primary goal, that of instilling positive attitudes about nutrition and demonstrating to learners that "nutrition is important". Once such attitudes have been formulated, ability to learn and comprehend nutritional facts and concepts will be facilitated, thus resulting in improved dietary intake of crucial nutrients.