A Study of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Girl Students of Guidance Schools in Ghaemshahr on Iron Deficiency Anemia

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world affecting alarge number of children and women. The main purpose of this research was todetermine the knowledge, attitude and, practice (K.A.P) of girl students inGhaemshahr.This is a cross-sectional study aimed at determining the K.A.P of 600 girlstudents selected by two-stage cluster sampling (10 schools,each school 60students in 3 different classes). Data were gathered by using questionnairesincluding demographic information and some questions related to K.A.P. Datawere analyzed by using SPSS (11.5), STATA (8.0).The results indicated that 13.7% of the subjects had good knowledge, 16.2%had positive attitude and 11.2% had good practice. Stepwise multiple orderedpolytomous regression showed that after adjusting the findings for the effect ofpotential confounders, father’s job and the number of children were the mostsignificant factors affecting students’ knowledge. Also, similar analysis at thelevel of their practice showed that parent's education and father’s job were themost effective factors.The findings indicated that educational program is necessary for empoweringand increasing knowledge of girl students to prevent iron deficiency and irondeficiency anemia.