Knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of students about iron supplementation to prevent stunting

Abstract

Background: The Indonesian government is trying to achieve the target of one of the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals, namely stunting. Stunting is a chronic condition that occurs due to risk factors for malnutrition in women of childbearing age who are menstruating. One indicator of malnutrition in women is anaemia. Objective: Women of childbearing age should routinely use iron supplements to replace blood loss during menstruation to avoid anaemia. Knowledge about stunting and iron should be the basis of positive and negative attitudes that significantly affect individual behaviour. Method: When collecting data, a cross-sectional questionnaire study was tested for validity and reliability. Result: Respondents needed more knowledge about stunting than positive behaviour and favourable attitudes towards iron supplementation. Furthermore, there was a correlation between knowledge and attitudes (p < 0.001; r = 0.479), then the relationship between knowledge and behaviour has an important relationship (p = 0.003; r = 0.207), and the relationship between attitudes and behaviour was significant (p < 0.001; r = 0.476). Conclusion: Education is needed to increase respondents’ knowledge; hence, respondents can have more positive attitudes if they are educated, which will increase compliance.