A study to evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding the prevention and control of malnutrition among the mothers of under five children residing in rural community of Dharwad district

Abstract

Background of the study: In the context of the Children’s growth and development do not occur in a linear fashion, but are influenced by each child’s environment, nutrition and parental care. Children are malnourished if their diet does not provide adequate nutrients for growth and maintenance or they are unable to fully utilize the food they eat due to illness (under nutrition). Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. Mother’s inadequate knowledge of nutrition leads to unsuitable feeding practices; this is further impeded by adherence to strict cultural beliefs/practices. To improve feeding practices, nutrition education should focus on changing current knowledge, attitudes and practices. This could improve the long-term health status of people in the community [5].Aims: An evaluative study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching program on knowledge regarding prevention and control of malnutrition among the mothers of under five children residing in rural community of Dharwad district.Conceptual Frame work: J. W. Kenny's Open System Model Methodology: An evaluative and qualitative approach use with one group pretest-posttest design was adopted for the study. The samples from the rural community of Dharwad district were selected using non probability purposive sampling technique. The sample consisted of 60 mothers of under five children. The tools used for data collection was structured knowledge questionnaire and structured teaching program was developed. The data analysis was done by using both descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: The findings reveal that the post-test mean knowledge scores was found higher [mean=23.73, SD of 3.76] when compared with pre-test mean knowledge score value which was 10.90 with SD of 2.91. The statistical paired ‘t’ implies that the difference in the pretest and post-test value was found statistically significant at 5% level (p