EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF FEMALES MEDICAL STUDENTS AND NON-MEDICAL STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SANAA CITY, YEMEN, 2018

Background:Nutritional knowledge plays a very important role in nutritional status. Evaluatenutritional knowledge among medical and non-medical female students at university of science and technology in Sanaa city, was the objective of present study.

Methods: Cross-sectional study, was performed using a systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews using pre-designed, semi-structured questionnaires on a period of two month from January to February 2019. Questionnaires was developed in two sections. The data was cleaned and coded then analyzed using SPSS version 21.

Result: One hundred and twenty students were enrolled in this study. All of them were females. Their ages ranged between 18 years and 30 years. The most frequent age group (56.7%) was located between 21-23 years.Majority of students 100(83.3%) had good or excellent nutritional knowledge. Most of them 55(45.8%) were in clinical nutrition and dietetics department. In conclusion, students in clinical nutrition and dietetics department had better nutritional knowledge than students in English department. The difference was significant as indicated by Pearson Chi-Square (p value =.000),. There was also a significant correlation between nutritional knowledge with department, study year also attended nutritional courses(all p values < 0.05). Current findings suggest nutrition education curriculum is compulsory in every study field, and it is need for coordinated efforts to promote nutrition education programs among medical students in general and non-medical students in particularto improve nutritional knowledge of students.