A comparative Study on Awareness and Perception about Anemia among Urban and rural Adolescent High School Girls Shireen Nimra1, Dayalaxmi T. S.2,*, Vidya G S3, Suryakantha A. H.4, Vijayakumar B.5 1Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical college, Kalaburagi 2Assiatant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalaburagi 3Professor, Department of Community Medicine, J J M Medical College, Davangere 4Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Basaveshwara Medical college, Chitradurga 5Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Sidhartha Institute of Medical Sciences, Tumkur, Karnataka, India *Corresponding Author: Dr Dayalaxmi T Shedole, Assiatant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalaburagi-585105, Karnataka, India, Mobile: +919916246435, Email: dayalaxmi83@gmail.com
Online published on 4 June, 2019. Abstract Background Adolescence is the formative period of life when the maximum amount of physical, psychological, and behavioural changes take place. During this stage the requirement of nutrition and micronutrients is relatively high. Therefore, adolescents, especially girls, particularly those between the ages of 12–15 years, are vulnerable to iron deficiency mainly because requirements are at a peak. In this connection, an attempt has been made to know the awareness and perception regarding anemia among adolescent girls. Objectives To know the awareness and perception about anemia among urban and rural high school girls aged 13-16years. To know their awareness about health impacts of anemia during growth period and pregnancy. To compare the awareness and perception on anemia between urban and rural high school girls.
Methodology A school based cross sectional study was done for a period of one year (December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2015) among 650 adolescent high school girls of Davangere city & field practice area of JJM Medical College, Davangere, Karnataka using a predesigned, pretested, multiple response type of Questionnaire, designed for the study by interview method. Results Mean awareness score of rural girls was higher (2.86) compared to urban girls (2.20) which was found statistically highly significant, whereas mean perception score was almost same for both rural (2.02) & urban (2.03) adolescent high school girls & was found statistically insignificant. Conclusion The present study revealed that rural adolescent girls were more aware about anemia compared to urban girls, where as both urban and rural girls had same perception about anemia. Top Keywords High school, Adolescent girls, anemia, awareness, perception, prevalence. Top |