ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN NATIONAL AND PROVINCE LEVEL BOXERS OF NEPAL

Abstract

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in five of the seven provinces of Nepal encompassing several districts and more than 15 boxing institutions throughout the country with a total of 110 participants who were all national and province level boxers. Data was collected through a one-on-one interview and a KAP questionnaire, it explored nutritional KAP of the participants along with other factors associated with nutrition. The collected data was analyzed using SPSSv26 and Microsoft excel. Chi square tests, Fisher’s exact test, Pearson’s correlation tests were used to assess the association between the variables. Anthropometric measurements (Height, Weight), dietary assessment (24-hour dietary recall) were used as indicators to determine nutritional status and dietary patterns of the respondents. Results revealed a majority of athletes had poor nutritional Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP), with a majority of participants (52.73%) reporting to have a negative or improper attitude towards nutrition, whereas 47.27% of participants seemed to have a good nutritional attitude. Additionally, over half of participants reported having poor nutritional knowledge (52.73%), while 47.27% of participants seemed to have a good nutritional knowledge. While 40.00% of participants appeared to have strong nutritional practices, over 60% of respondents had poor nutritional practices. There was a significant association between demographic characteristics such as region, religion, socio economic characteristics and sporting characteristics such as training hours with the nutritional KAP of the participants (p value <0.05), Moreover, there seemed to be a fair positive correlation between nutritional knowledge and nutritional practices (p-value < 0.05, r > 03), indicating a rise in nutritional knowledge will lead to overall better nutritional practices. The athletes' dietary intake was below recommended levels, with 95.45% of them not consuming the necessary number of calories; there was a slight tendency toward high protein intake, with about 40% of the athletes consuming an adequate amount of protein in their diet; The athletes' consumption of energy, protein, and carbohydrates was significantly lower. Therefore, there is an urgent need for programs meant to raise athletes' nutritional awareness, which would then result in better eating