Effectiveness of Nutrition Education package on knowledge regarding Child Nutrition among Mothers of Children between 0-2 years

Rajinder Kaur¹, Amandeep Kaur², Mandeep Kaur³

¹Nursing Tutor/ Demonstrator, SINPMS, M.Sc. Community Health Nursing,

State Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Badal.

²Assistant Professor, SINPMS, M.Sc. Community Health Nursing,

State Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Badal.

³Associate Professor, UCON, Faridkot.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: kaurrajinder20591@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Good nutrition is very essential for maintaining health of the children. Mother is responsible for nutrition of the young child. The mothers should know about the value of child nutrition. Knowledge of mothers has an important role in the maintenance of nutritional status of the children. Aim of The Study: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education package on knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years. Material and Methods: A quasi experimental design was used to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education package on knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years. Study was in village Mehna and Singhewala, District Sri Muktsar Sahib Punjab. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 60 mothers in selected rural areas. Structured interview schedule was prepared to assess the knowledge regarding child nutrition analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Statistically significant difference in the mean pre test and post test knowledge score of mother regarding child nutrition at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: It was concluded on the basis of the findings of this study that the mothers had average pretest knowledge regarding child nutrition and nutrition education help to improve the knowledge of mothers in experimental group.

KEYWORDS: Knowledge, nutrition education package, child nutrition.

INTRODUCTION:

Children always need special care to survive and thrive. Good health of these precious members of the society should be ensured as prime importance in all countries. Children are the wealth of the tomorrow. Health of the children has been considered as the vital importance to all societies because children are the basic resource of the future of mankind.

Children also have essential needs like adults for their life to promote growth and development. The mother is only responsible for nutrition of the infant. Good nutrition is essential for maintaining life. The word nutrition is derived from the word ‘nutricus’ which means to suckle at the breast. Nutrition is defined as combination of dynamic process by which the consumed food is utilized for nourishment and structural and functional efficiency of every cell of the body. It is the science of food and its relationship to health. Balanced and sufficient nutritional intake is most essential for children to promote optimal growth and development, to protect and maintain health, to prevent nutritional deficiency conditions and various illnesses and to reserve for starvation and dietary stress.

Childhood under nutrition remains a major health problem causing approximately one third of the children less than 5 years of age in developing countries to be stunted (low height for age) and large proportions deficient in one or more micronutrients. Recent data shows that just over half of 6-9 months old are breast fed along with complementary foods and only 39 % of 20-23 months old are continued with breast feeding.

Through the above facts and studies, the researcher has realized the increased incidence of problems due to deficit of knowledge among mothers regarding child nutrition. Hence the researcher felt the need to select this study and to prepare nutrition education package to improve the knowledge of mother regarding child nutrition that are having children between 0-2 years of age.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A Quasi experimental study to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education package on knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years in selected rural areas of District Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To assess the pre test knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years in experimental and control group.

2. To prepare and provide nutrition education package on knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years to experimental group.

3. To assess the post test knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years in experimental and control group.

4. To compare the pre and post test knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years in experimental and control group.

5. To find out the association of knowledge score regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years with selected demographic variables.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Research Approach:

Quantitative research approach was adopted to accomplish the objective of the study and to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education package on knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years in selected rural areas of District Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab.

Research Design:

Quasi experimental Non randomized control group research was used to carry out the study.

Demographic variables:

In this study independent invariables were Age in years, Education of mother, Occupation of mother, Type of family, Religion, Family income per month, Birth order of child, Gender of child, Age of child and Source of information.

Independent variable:

Nutrition education package.

Dependent variable:

The dependent variable is the knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years.

Research Setting:

The present study was conducted in two villages i.e. Mehna for the experimental group and Singhewala for the control group was selected.

Target Population:

The target population for the present study comprised of mothers of children between 0-2 years in village Mehna and Singhewala, District Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab.

Sampling Technique and Sample Size:

In present study the investigator selected a sample of 60 mothers, 30 for experimental and 30 for control by using purposive sampling technique.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Mothers who are willing to participate.

2. Mothers who are able to understand Punjabi/Hindi.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Mothers who are having children above 2 years.

2. Mothers who will not be available at the time of data collection.

Selection and Description of Tool (s):

A research literature was made for the purpose of locating appropriate tool. Structured interview schedule was developed to assess the knowledge of mothers of children between 0-2 years regarding child nutrition with review of literature and getting opinions from various experts from nursing, medical, nutrition, research, pediatrics. A nutrition education package was developed in order to increase the level of knowledge of mothers regarding child nutrition

Section A: sample characteristics:

This section Consist of items for obtaining information about subjects such as age in years, religion, education of mother, occupation of mother, type of family, family income per month, gender of child, birth order of child, age of child, source of information.

Section B: Assessment of knowledge regarding child nutrition among mothers by using structured interview schedule:

This section consists of multiple choice questions regarding child nutrition. The total of 30 questions was included and each question carries 1 mark and unanswered and incorrect answer carries 0 marks. So, maximum score was 30 and minimum score was 0.

Criterion measure for classification of level of knowledge

Level of knowledge	Range of score
Good	21-30
Average	11-20
Below Average	0-10

Data Collection Procedure:

Data collection was done in the month of February, 2015. Prior to giving interview questionnaire, the investigator gave instructions to mothers and explained the purpose of gathering information. They ensured that their responses will be kept confidential and used for research purpose only.

The sample consisted to 60 samples i.e. 30 in experimental group and 30 in control group. Purposive sampling technique was used to select samples from the population. At first, the personal information of all mothers was taken. Pretest of both groups was taken on different days to assess their knowledge regarding child nutrition

RESULTS:

In experimental group, pretest knowledge score was 14.43 and posttest knowledge score was 24.20. Statistically significant difference in the mean pre test and post test knowledge score of mothers regarding child nutrition was found at 0.05 level of significance. In the control group, pretest knowledge score was 14.83 and posttest knowledge score was 15.20. The difference between pretest and posttest knowledge score of mothers was found statistically non significant at 0.05 level of significance as shown in table 1.

Figure 1: Comparison of mean pretest and posttest knowledge score regarding child nutrition among mothers of children between 0-2 years in experimental and control group.

In the experimental group mean pre test knowledge score was (14.43) and mean post test knowledge score was (24.20). The difference mean pre test and post test knowledge score of experimental Group was significant at <0.05 level. In the control group mean pre test knowledge score was (14.83) and post test knowledge score was (15.20) the difference between pre test and post test knowledge score of control group was statistically non significant at <0.05 level.

The difference between mean posttest score of samples in experimental group as compared to control group was statistically significant at <0.05 level.

Hence, research H₁ was accepted and it was concluded that nutrition education package had impact on knowledge of mothers regarding child nutrition.

DISCUSSION:

Findings revealed that the mothers in experimental group had an overall gain of knowledge after the administration of nutrition education package. In experimental group pretest knowledge was 14.43 and posttest knowledge score was 24.20. The difference between pretest and posttest mean knowledge score was statistically significant at <0.05. there is significant difference between pretest and posttest knowledge score, which means nutrition education package is the good way to increase knowledge regarding child nutrition. In control group score was 14.83 pretest and 15.20 in posttest. The difference between pretest and posttest mean knowledge score was statistically non significant.

Similarly D’costa Anitha Preethi revealed in a study that there was a significant change in the knowledge score of the respondents from the pre- intervention to the post intervention after the administration of self instructional module. As pretest mean knowledge score was 15.90 and posttest mean knowledge score was18.92. it is concluded that the intervention was effective in increasing the knowledge of respondents regarding weaning.

The above results were also supported by a study conducted by Naho Edgie, Varia Anjali et al. reporting mean knowledge score regarding weaning was 5.9±2.57.

Another study conducted by Kadali Sam Prasad to assess the effect of video assisted teaching and structured teaching programme regarding weaning reported that ‘t’value was 12.68 which was significant at 0.05 level of significance.

CONCLUSION:

In experimental group, maximum 23(76.75) subjects had average pretest knowledge. After the administration of nutrition education package, majority 26(86.7%) had good knowledge. Hence, was effective in increasing the knowledge of mothers regarding child nutrition.

This study also depicted that there is no association of knowledge with selected demographic variables except source of information in experimental and education of mother, family income per month in control group at 0.05 level of significance.

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Received on 15.02.2020 Modified on 16.03.2020

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2020; 8(4):421-424.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2020.00093.9

Observation Group	Pre-test	Post-test	Paired ‘t’- test
Observation Group	Mean± Standard deviation	Mean± Standard deviation	Paired ‘t’- test
Experimental (n=30)	14.43 ± 3.47	24.20 ± 2.39	t = 23.26* df = 29
Control (n=30)	14.83 ± 3.70	15.20 ± 3.34	t = 1.69^NS df = 29
Unpaired ‘t’ test	t= 0.432^NS df = 58	t = 11.973* df = 58