EXPLORING THE AWARENESS GAP:A STUDY TO ASSESS THE PREVELENCE OF BREAKFAST SKIPPING PATTERN AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTOR AMONG NURSING STUDENTS AT SMT NAGARATHNAMMA SCHOOL OF NURSING BANGALURU

Background: Skipping breakfast is the omission or lack of consumption of one of the most traditional main meals (lunch or dinner) throughout the day. Thenumberofbreakfastteenagersmissandeatawayfromhomeincreasesfromearlyadolescence to late adolescence, reflecting the growing need for independence and time away from home. The evening meal appears to be the most regularly eaten made of the day. Girls are found to skip the breakfast, lunch and evening meal more often than boys. In some homewith limited resources, the adolescent may not even receive adequate number of breakfast or amounts leading to nutrient deficiency. Breakfast is frequently neglected and is omitted more often by teenagersandyoungadultsunder25yearsofagethanbyanyotheragegroupsinthepopulation. 1st year nursing student who are staying away from home or experiencing difficulties in adjusting in new environment, experiencing study pressure or any mal-practice that affects normal diet pattern has high chance of suffering from skipping breakfast. 1. To assess the level of knowledge on breakfast skipping regarding among nursing students of Smt. Nagarathnamma College of Nursing,Bengaluru. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme regarding Skipping breakfast among nursing students in Smt. NagarathnammaSchool of Nursing. 3. Tofindtheassociationbetweenpre-testandpost-testknowledgescoreregarding Skipping breakfast with selected socio demographicvariable Method: ThisisaDiscriptivestudywhereclosedendeddemographicquestionnaireweregiven to 60 first year student to assess their current situation and self-administered knowledge questionnaire were used as a tool to access sleep hygiene and sleep quality respectivelyamong those 60 first year nursing student by using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected by direct distribution of tools to each nursing student and data was analysed and results were interpreted by using quasi experimentalstatistics. Results: The overall mean percentage knowledge score in the pre-test and post-test were 22.5 % and 59.00%, respectively. Enhancements in mean percentage score were found to be 36.50%.Thestatisticalpairedttestindicatesthatenhancementinthemeanpercentage knowledgescorewasfoundtobesignificantat 0.05level foralltheaspectunderstudy.The association found to be partly significant between pre-test knowledge scores and selected socio demographic variables at 0.05 level(p<0.05). Conclusion: The study findings suggested that ppt assisted structured teaching programmeis an effective instructional method in improving the knowledge regarding Skipping breakfast among nursing students.