Management and Care of Malnourished Children: Gaps in their Knowledge Levels of Final-Year Community Health Nursing Trainees

Abstract

Objective: Community Health Nurses are usually the first to identify malnourished children in the community and refer them to the hospital. Therefore, they should have adequate knowledge about malnutrition in children and be conversant applying WHO’s protocol for managing malnutrition. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge levels of final-year community health nursing trainees regarding the causes, signs and symptoms, management and prevention of malnutrition in children. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 200 final-year trainees completed a self- administered questionnaire. Results: Generally, trainees’ knowledge about the causes and prevention of malnutrition in children was good. However, their knowledge levels on the management of malnutrition in children were poor. Majority (91%) of the respondents did not know that the first step during the stabilization phase is to prevent hypoglycemia in malnourished children. Again, majority (69%) of the respondents did not know that iron should not be given to malnourished children during the stabilization phase. Most (66.0%) of the respondents did not know that children with severe acute malnutrition should be assessed for appetite, medical complications and oedema. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there are gaps in nursing students’ nutritional knowledge in the management of malnutrition in children. Findings from this study demonstrate the need to update and strengthen the content of the nutrition curriculum by including specific pediatric nutrition courses or topics in the training of community health nurses.