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Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on Child Feeding: Bases for the Development of A Nutrition Education Program Marieta Bao-ilan Pagaduan Dr. Epifania V. Tabbada Dr. Jose Rizal G. Sanchez :: Philippine Normal University College of Graduate Studies Master of Arts in Education Degree Specialization : Child Study Date : February 13, 2004 Key Concept : Children's Feeding Program Mother's Feeding: Knowledge : Attitude : Practices # STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES General Objective The main thrust of this study is to describe the knowledge, attitude, and prac- tices on child feeding among mothers and caretakers and to develop a nutrition education program based on the surveyed needs in the province of Cavite. iv Specific Objectives 1. To describe the knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers and caretakers in child feeding. 2. To identify the needs of mothers/caretakers relative to child feeding: knowl- edge, attitude, and practices. 3. To develop, evaluate and implement a nutrition education program based on the surveyed needs of the mothers and caretakers. METHODS AND PROCEDURE Research Design This study used the descriptive developmental methods since it aimed to look into the status on knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers and caretakers on child feeding. Based on the results of the data, developed, evaluated and implemented a nutrition education program. The main instruments of this study were the questionnaire and structured inter- view. There were two parts of the questionnaire. The first part consisted of the per-. sonal data and the family profile of the respondents while the second part consisted of specific questions on knowledge, attitude, and practices on child feeding. Purposive random sampling was used in the choice of respondents. The data were gathered from the mothers and caretakers of children whose age ranged from four months to five years in Muzon, Cavite which had prevalent cases of malnutrition. These data were summarized, analyzed and interpreted. 号 V STATISTICAL TREATMENT For a more valid and meaningful interpretation of the data, both the statistical content analyses were utilized: Percentage (%) was utilized to present the profile of the mothers and caretakers in terms of age, educational attainment, approximate monthly income, number of chil- dren in the family, and common causes of sickness in the home. Percentage was also utilized to determine the child feeding behaviors among moth- ers and caretakers in terms of their knowledge, attitude, and practices. To evaluate the program developed, the statistical t-test was used to determine the differences of knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers and caretakers after attending a nutrition education program. Findings 3 1. The nutrition knowledge test on child feeding have shown that 53% of mothers and caretakers have adequate knowledge on child feeding. They have right knowledge on: the importance of water, fresh fruits and vegetable, macronutrients and vitamins, timely feeding and introduction of solid foods to children, as well as the ideal foods for children. While, the identified needs on nutrition knowledge among mothers and care- takers on child feeding includes: illness or problems caused by eating fruits and vegetables and cassava. Misconception on the nutrient of eggs, honey and home prepared baby foods compared to commercially prepared. Some of the respon- vi dents lack the ability to overcome the bondage of superstitious beliefs existing in the community. 2. The dietary attitude test on child feeding have shown that 33% of mothers and caretakers have positive attitude on child feeding. Majority of the mothers / caretakers have positive attitude on: their preference to fresh fruits and vegetable, consideration and belief on the nutrients of foods. Respondents who have posi-. tive dietary attitude are those who are careful on what to serve, when to serve and how to serve foods to their children. While, the identified needs on dietary attitude of mothers and caretakers on child feeding includes: when to serve a specific food at a particular time/day, fear of the effects of particular foods, carelessness in the variation of foods to be served, patience to feed children, and the belief on misleading informations. 3. The dietary practice test on child feeding have shown that 33% of mothers and caretakers have right practice on: proper feeding of their children, buying and serving of fresh fruits and vegetable, root crops and water. Some of the right nutrition knowledge of the respondents were not being practiced. The identified needs on dietary practice of mothers and caretakers on child feeding includes: buying the right kind of foods, what foods to serve and not to serve, giving/feeding children with foods. The difficulty to translate the right knowledge into practice due to lack of right attitude is the respondents pressing need vii 4. Based on the results of the study, a nutrition education program was devel- oped to answer and eliminate the surveyed needs of the respondents on child feeding. The program is focused on the improvement of the respondents knowl- edge, behavior change and switching of wrong practices to right. Moreover, the program followed the planning process model- planning, implementation and evaluation. This program was designed for the community of Sitio Muzon. 5. The program implementation and evaluation revealed that knowledge can be improved, attitude can be changed, and wrong practices can be cor- rected if given appropriate exposures to a nutrition education program. Evaluation of the program in terms of knowledge, attitude, and practices using the t-test statistical treatment revealed that, after attending the nutrition education program,majority of the respondents knowledge became adequate, their negative attitude became positive, and their wrong practices corrected. Conclusions Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. Majority of the mothers and caretakers have Adequate Knowledge about child feeding after the nutrition education program. Negative attitude was changed into Positive Attitude, and wrong practices into Right Practices. 2. There are identified several needs related to child feeding. 3. A Nutrition Education Program is developed, tried out, and assesed as Vill good and appropriate. Recommendations Based on the results of the study, the following recommendations were drawn: 1. That the developed, tried, and determined to be effective, Nutrition Educa- tion Program be used again in the future in the same community. 2. That future programs of this kind, adopt contents and strategies suited to varied audiences. Moreover, their specific needs be given emphasis. 3. That a similar program should also be tackled even in the classroom of the lower level to educate future parents of the community.

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