Research On Structural Equation Model Of Foodbrone Illness-related Knowledge,Attitude And Practice Among College Students

Objective: The purpose of this study were to explore relationships between knowledge,attitude and practice of college students related to foodbrone illness via structural equation model,and to explore the applicability of full sample structural equation model to sub-samples based on different demographic characteristics via stratified analysis of structural equation model,providing method and evidence for prevention of foodbrone illness.Methods: KAP(knowledge,attitude and practice)questionnaire survey was conducted on 600 college students in four universities by cluster random sampling method.Descriptive statistics,exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were performed with IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences(IBM SPSS? Software)version 18.The structural equation model was established by using LISREL?8.70.Stratified analysis method was further applied: Respondents were stratified by gender,birthplace and monthly living expense.Sub-samples of male and female,sub-samples of city and rural,and sub-samples of “? 1000yuan” and “>1000 yuan” were obtained.Then,the SEM models with sub-samples were compared with full sample structural equation model to explore the applicability of full sample structural equation model to sub-samples and the influence of gender--inconsistency,birthplace--inconsistency or monthly living expense-inconsistency on the SEM results.Results: Knowledge directly affected attitude,and the impact coefficient was 0.47;attitude directly affect practice,and the impact coefficient was 0.41;knowledge showed indirect effect on practice,and the impact coefficient was 0.1927(0.47×0.41);the total effect of knowledge and attitude to practice was 0.6027(0.1927+0.41).The findings of structural equation model showed that all of the relationships between latent variables are positive,that all standardized parameter estimation values reached a significant level(P < 0.001).Except the female sub-sample structural equation model,sub-sample structural equation models fit well the overall structural equation model in stratified analysis.Conclusion: Foodbrone illness related knowledge has a certain impact on attitude,as well as the effect of attitude showed on practice,but knowledge has limited influence on practice.It suggests that there are other factors affecting the practice of college students except knowledge and attitude.Thus,in the process of health education to prevent foodbrone illness,some comprehensive intervention measures also need to be taken to complete and enhance the effectiveness of prevention.In addition,the structural equation model based on KAP theory also has good applicability for different demographic characteristics subgroups,and can be better applied to the research for prevention of food borne illness.