Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to find out the correlation of nutrition
knowledge and attitudes on dietary practices of self-catering students at Solwezi and
Kitwe Teacher Training Colleges. A descriptive correlation design was used.
Stratified random sampling and purposive was employed. The sample of 102 was
drawn consisting of 51 students from each college where 52 were females and 50
males. Data was collected using a self-structured questionnaire with a five-point
Likert scale. Data was then computed and analysis using the statistical Packaging for
Social Sciences version 23.0. The findings of the study revealed that nutritional
knowledge of the respondent was moderate with a mean score of 3.191. It also
showed that 26.2% of nutritional attitude influenced their dietary practices. There
was a significant difference between nutritional knowledge, nutritional attitudes and
dietary practices. In conclusion, the results revealed that students do not have
adequate nutrition knowledge and attitudes to support dietary practices needed to
enhance diet quality. This implies further that they were unable to meet sufficient
nutritional requirements in the long run. The major recommendation is to avail
practical nutrition knowledge and guidelines to enhance attitudes that would
subsequently improve dietary practices. Further research should focus on assessing in
depth determinants of dietary practices of self-catering college students.
