Okronipa, HarrietPosey, Isabelle Hunter2024-11-272024-11-272024-05https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14446/345698Objectives: While adequate nutrition is essential for adolescents to achieve their growth and developmental potential, this need is even more critical among pregnant adolescents because of the negative impacts of inadequate nutrition on the growing young girl and the developing fetus. Food insecurity (FI) is a major global health problem and is likely a determinant of diet quality. However, data on diet quality and FI in this population remains limited. This study aimed to define diet quality and FI prevalence among pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers in Ghana and examine the association between FI and diet quality. Methods: The Healthy Adolescent Nutrition in Ghana (HANIG) study was conducted in communities around Cape Coast, Ghana. As part of this community-based cross-sectional study, 422 adolescents aged 12-19 years old, pregnant (n=215) or with a child aged 5 years or less (n=207) were recruited from communities and health centers. FI information from the past month was collected using the Childhood Food Insecurity Experience Scale (CFIES). The Diet Quality Questionnaire (DQQ) described the diet quality indicators: Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W), all five recommended food groups (ALL-5), noncommunicable disease risk and protect (NCD-Risk and NCD-Protect), and Global Dietary Recommendations (GDR). Multiple logistic regression and multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between FI and the diet indicators Results: Most participants reported FI, including 90.3% of mothers and 84.1% of pregnant adolescents. Overall, more than half participants met MDD-W (56.2%) and about a quarter met ALL-5 (23.2%). FI was associated with 60.7% greater odds of not meeting MDD-W (AOR= 0.393; 95% CI (0.20, 0.76); p=0.0057), a 0.64 decrease in NCD-Protect scores (β = -0.64, p =0.0042), and a 0.77 decrease in NCD-Risk scores (β = -0.77, p = 0.0032). Conclusions: FI is highly prevalent among pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers in Ghana, and many are not reaching adequate diet diversity. Food insecurity was negatively associated with MDD-W, NCD-Protect, and NCD-Risk scores. Interventions to increase food security among this population are needed to address the high rates identified along with low dietary diversity.application/pdfCopyright is held by the author who has granted the Oklahoma State University Library the non-exclusive right to share this material in its institutional repository. Contact Digital Library Services at lib-dls@okstate.edu or 405-744-9161 for the permission policy on the use, reproduction or distribution of this material.Thesisadolescent mothersdiet qualityfood insecurityglobal healthpregnant adolescents