Nutritional Status of School Age Children in Private Elementary Schools: Basis For A Proposed Meal Management Plan
Nutritional Status of School Age Children in Private Elementary Schools: Basis For A Proposed Meal Management Plan
Abstract— Department of Education (DepEd) organizes nutritional programs to improve the health status of
children in public schools. Likewise, the researcher believes that health awareness must be raised in private schools
as well. This study aimed to affect the community to be aware and more knowledgeable about nutrition. Specifically,
this study focused on the nutritional status of school age children in private elementary schools in Santa Rosa,
Nueva Ecija. It sought to determine the profile of the learners, anthropometrics, clinical data and the knowledg e of
the learners as to dietary and the significant relationship between the profile of the learners and the nutritional
status of the school aged children. With all the data gathered a meal management program was proposed. The study
employed the quantitative description design. The study manifests that majority of the respondents were not yet
aware of what they eat. In addition, age, greatly affects the respondent’s anthropometrics as to height. More so,
age, number of siblings and family income, greatly a ffect the respondents’ anthropometrics as to weight. The
researcher adopted the Nutritional Guidelines for Filipino program that was developed by the DOST- FNRI.
Keywords— Anthropometrics, Nutritional Status, School Age Children.
Majority o f the respondents belonged to 10-12 Survey reveals that majority of the respondents
years old, mostly female, whose parents were OFW , and stand 51 inches and above and weigh 71 kilos and above.
whose family income ranges from P 25,000 and above. According to Kidshealth Organizat ion (2015), a child’s
According to the Dietary Gu idelines for height is determined by genetics or daily nutritional intake.
Americans (2010), children aged 10-12 need healthy foods Most kids’ growth slows down after the first year o f life
because they have a consistent, but slow rate of growth and breaking down into mini gro wth spurts. To ensure a child
usually eat four to five t imes a day. Likewise, Dimaano reaching a normal height and weight, they must be taught
(2016) stated that most girls start to menstruate during this certain lifestyle habits while practicing patience.
age and were reco mmended allo wances for one or more
nutrients. On the contrary, teenage girl’s poor diet can be Clinical data of the res pondents as to diseases,
caused by emotional and social pressures. Based on the allergies and operations underwent, and number of
researchers’ observations, parents whose working in vaccines received during infancy up to present.
professional positions can afford to provide their ch ild ren In terms of diseases, majority of the respondents
nutritious food. Hatton and Martin (2008) said that birth did not have disease when they were young, 72.2% did not
order can only affect health outcomes if inequality of have allergy. About 172 of them did not undergo any
resource allocation is present in the household. operations, while 61.7% had 4 vaccines. Paula (2013)
Furthermore, in the survey conducted by Casey (2001), defines clin ical data as the obtaining of indiv idual’s med ical
about 2.2% of households are reported to have food history. Vaccines reduce and prevent an indiv idual fro m
insufficiency. Families with low inco me experience food infectious diseases (Center for Disease Control and
insufficiency due to lack of money. Prevention, 2016).
Table 1 shows the nutritional status of respondents in terms of clinical data as to dietary k nowledge
Verbal
Dietary Knowledge WM
Description
1. Eating fruits and vegetables is good for one’s health. 4.30 Strongly Agree
2. Too much sugar intake is good for one’s health. 2.15 Disagree
3. Eating a variety of foods is good for one’s health. 3.29 Moderately Agree
4. Food high in fat is good for one’s health. 2.26 Disagree
5. Food with a lot of staple food such rice and rice products are not good for
2.21 Disagree
one’s health.
6. Fish, poultry, eggs and lean meat are good for one’s
3.33 Moderately Agree
health.
7. Less consumption of animal fat in the diet is good for one’s health. 3.35 Moderately Agree
8. Milk and dairy products is good for one’s health. 4.10 Agree
9. Physical activities are good for one’s health. 4.44 Strongly Agree
10. Sports or other physical activities are not good for one’s health. 2.53 Disagree
11. The heavier one’s body, the healthier he or she is. 2.46 Disagree
Overall weighted mean 3.13 Moderately Agree
The table presents the dietary knowledge of the includes cured meat like hotdogs to be the daily breakfast of
respondents. It shows that the learners Moderately Agree as every Filipino child. These items are openly sold in school
to their Dietary Knowledge. It can also indicate the lack of canteens and are often uregulated. Although children are
informat ion as regard eating nutritious food or is seldom taught in school about proper diet, many factors are to be
practiced in the Filipino table setting and school considered like their utter dislike for vegetables. Cooking
environment. this stuff can consume much time, hence the preference of
parents for quick-cook food because they are are busy to
The role of parents in educating their children to attend to other household chores. Secondly, the capacity of
eat healthy food at an early stage in life can be a big factor parents to financially sustain a balanced d iet wh ich they
in the latter’s nutrition. Nowadays, children are engrossed still view the process to be costly.
with eat ing too much of processed food and softdrinks. This
Table.2: Shows the correlation of profile of respondents and their anthropometric height and weight)
Height, r- Weight, r -
Profile Interpretation Interpretation
value value
Age .161 * Significant relationship .324** Significant relationship
Gender .116 No significant relationship .035 No Significant relationship
Mother -.061 No significant relationship -.027 No Significant relationship
Father .133 No significant relationship -.055 No Significant relationship
Birth Order .036 No significant relationship -.026 No Significant relationship
Table 2 shows that gender had no significant relationship in Moreover, the table shows that weight, gender,
the anthropometrics of the respondents as to height, parents’ parents’ occupation and birth order had no significant
occupation, birth o rder, number of siblings , and family relationship to the anthropometrics of the respondents. In
income. On the contrary, age greatly affects their contrast, age, number of siblings and family income greatly
anthropometrics. affect the respondent’s anthropometrics as to weight. Good
As individuals age, the body changes and lifestyle nutrition is vital to the growth and development of child ren
may affect d iet and eating habits (Robinson and Segal , ( healthypeople.gov., 2006) .
2017).
Table.3: Correlation of profile of respondents and their clinical data as to diseases, allergies and operations
Number of Allergies, Diseases and Operations
Profile
r- value Interpretation
Table 3 implied the significant relationship between the profile and clin ical data as to number of diseases, allergies and
operations of the respondents using Pearson’s r. It further indicates that there is no significant relationship between the profile
and the number of allergies, diseases and operations.
Table.4: Correlation of profile of respondents and their clinical data as to vaccines received
Number of Vaccines Received
Profile
r- value Interpretation
Age -0.024 No Significant Relationship
Gender 0.078 No Significant Relationship
Mother -0.057 No Significant Relationship
Father 0.026 No Significant Relationship
Birth Order 0.057 No Significant Relationship
Siblings 0.133 No Significant Relationship
Income -0.035 No Significant Relationship
Table 4 indicates that there is no significant relationship between the profile and vaccines received of the respondents
using Pearson r.
Proposed intervention program that may employ to 4. Parents are encouraged to provide recommended serving
improve the health status of the school age children sizes of food for children.
With the result of the investigation made by the 5. Parents are encouraged to limit children’s video,
researcher on the dietary knowledge and correlat ion of the television watching, and computer use to less than two
profile and anthropometrics. The researcher highly hours daily and replace the sedentary activities with
recommends the imp lementation in every household and activities that require more movement.
schools the program that was developed by the Food and 6. Children and adolescents need at least 60 minutes of
Nutrit ion Research Institute of Depart ment of Science and moderate to vigorous physical activity on most days to
Technology the “National Gu idelines for Filip inos 2000”. have good health and fitness and for healthy weight
It is a set of d ietary guidelines based on the eating pattern, during growth.
lifestyle and health status of Filipinos. This consists 7. To prevent dehydration, encourage children to drink fluid
vegetables, fru its, carbohydrates, proteins, water, and dairy regularly during physical activity and to drink several
products with suggested amounts. The NGF contains all the glasses of water or other fluid after the physical activity
nutrition messages to healthy living for all age groups from is completed.
infants to adults, pregnant, and lactating women and the 8. Parents may try to apply organic farming method in their
elderly. backyard to promote a healthier environment that is free
fro m chemicals and will provide cheaper but nutritious
IV. CONCLUSION foods for their children. A food that is free fro m
Based on the findings , the fo llo wing conclusions were chemicals will result to a cheaper, nutrit ious and healthy
drawn: body.
1. Majority of the respondents belonged to 10-12 years
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