Knowledge and Practice of Secondary Girl Students of Birjand in Relation to Iron Deficiency Anemia and Iron Supplementation in 2015

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional problem in the world that has affected the physical and mental health of many adolescent girls. The aim of the present study was to determine the knowledge and practice of secondary girl students of Birjand about iron deficiency anemia and iron supplementation in schools.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 on 300 girl students in the secondary schools of Birjand who were selected through cluster sampling. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire containing demographic variables, 18 questions about knowledge and 7 questions for practice. Data were analyzed through SPSS18 and using Chi-square, Fisher's exact test and Pearson correlation coefficient.
Mean scores of knowledge and practice of students were respectively 61.4±13.3 and 59.9±11 of 100. Knowledge of 13.3% of students and practice of 12% of them was good, while 25.7% of students had poor knowledge and 23.3% had poor practice. From all, 13.3% had not consumed iron tablets distributed at school. Knowledge of students showed a significant relationship with father's (P=0.013) and mother's education (P=0.009) and student's practice had a significant relation with father's job (P=0.01) and mother's education (P=0.0001).
Given the results of this study showing relatively poor awareness and practice of students; planning and implementation of educational programs to improve students’ knowledge and practice on anemia, prevention of iron deficiency and correct consumption of iron supplements, seems necessary.