Sustainability of improved maternal knowledge and practices on pulse inclusion in complementary foods after nutrition education intervention in Southern Ethiopia: A case-control analysis

Abstract

Nutrition-sensitive program is one among the approaches to improve the nutritional status of children. In households with poor socioeconomic status, improving maternal knowledge of child nutrition has been shown to reduce malnutrition-related morbidity and mortality. However, it is not clear if the effects are long-lasting or not. Therefore, the present study was designed with the primary aim of evaluating the sustainability of the knowledge and practices gained from the pulse-related nutrition education intervention. To this end, a community-based case-control study was conducted on 390 mother-child pairs in southern Ethiopia from December 2017 to January 2018. In this study, the cases were those mother-child pairs, previously given pulse-related nutrition education, while the controls were the ones who were not provided a similar intervention. A Chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical variables, and the t-tests for the mean effect. It was found that knowledge was higher in the cases compared with the control group. More specifically, a higher mean difference score was recorded in knowledge in the cases, 8.36 (1.64), than control, 6.82 (2.4). Besides, there was a significant difference in using pulses for complementary food preparation between the cases and control groups. Moreover, there was a higher mean difference in the practice score in the cases, 6.02 (1.22) compared with the control group, 4.88 (1.68), (p<0.01). In conclusion, the pulse-related nutrition education intervention has had a lasting effect on maternal knowledge and practices regarding the inclusion of pulses in complementary food preparation for children aged 6-23 months.