Nutrition knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices: a comparison of urban and rural adults in the Free State province of South Africa

Objective: A study was undertaken to explore the differences in nutrition knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices and their correlations among adults in both urban and rural communities in the Free State province of South Africa. Design: This study forms part of the cross-sectional Assuring Health for All in the Free-State (AHA-FS) study. Setting: The AHA-FS study is conducted in urban and rural parts of the Free State province of South Africa. The rural and urban stages of the study were conducted in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Subjects: The sample included 846 adult household members, aged between 25 and 65 years, from both rural and urban areas of the Free State province. Outcome measures: Nutrition knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices were measured. Results: The sample included predominantly females (78.2%). Rural adults had significantly better nutrition knowledge (p < 0.001), positive attitudes (p < 0.001) and positive beliefs (p < 0.001) and their nutrition knowledge and attitudes (r = 0.27, p < 0.001), nutrition knowledge and beliefs (r = 0.16, p < 0.001), and nutrition attitudes and beliefs (r = 0.38, p < 0.001) were significantly correlated with each other. However, nutrition knowledge, attitudes and beliefs were not correlated with nutrition practices among our sample in either the urban or rural setting. Conclusion and implication: The results of the current study confirm that relevant and culturally acceptable nutrition education interventions for translating nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and beliefs into practices are required.