TNAI JOURNAL

Adequate nutrition and early feeding patterns are important determinants of health during infancy. Infancy holds a very important place in the life of every individual because the entire structure of man’s life is formed during this time. Several studies, the world over, have established that breast feeding alone is sufficient for initial six months. Thereafter concentrated energy-dense complementary foods are essential to maintain proper growth of an infant. Complementary feeding period is a difficult phase in the infant’s life because if the food supplements are not adequate the child becomes undernourished. Objectives The objectives of the present study were to : (i) determine the level of knowledge of mothers regarding Complementary Feeding as measured by a knowledge questionnaire; (ii) determine the attitude of mothers regarding Complementary Feeding as measured by an attitude scale; (iii) develop and validate a planned teaching programme (PTP) on Complementary Feeding (iv) evaluate the effectiveness of the PTP in terms of (a) gain in knowledge scores, (b) gain in attitude scores and (c) opinionnaire about PTP. (v) find association between pre-test knowledge scores and se- The authors are: Lecturer, Associate Professor and * Assistant Professor at Manipal College of Nursing.*	lected variables, age of mother, number of children, age of the youngest child in months, socioeconomic status, type of family and source of information; (vi) find the association between pretest attitude scores and selected variables, age of mother, number of children, age of the youngest child in months, socio-economic status, type of family and source of information; and (vii) find the relationship between pre-test knowledge scores and pre-test attitude scores on Complementary Feeding. The conceptual framework of the study was based on systems model Hypotheses Five hypotheses were developed and tested at 0.05 level of significance. H1: The mean post-test knowledge scores of mothers will be significantly higher than mean pretest knowledge scores regarding the Complementary Feeding. H2: The mean post-test attitude scores of mothers will be significantly higher than mean pre-test attitude scores regarding the Complementary Feeding. H3: There will be significant association between pre-test knowledge score of rural mothers on Complementary Feeding with selected variables; age of mother, number of children, age of the youngest child in months, socio-economic status, type of family and source of information at 0.05 level of significance.	H4 : There will be a significant association between pre-test attitude score of mothers on Complementary Feeding with selected variables ; age of mother, number of children, age of the youngest child in months, socioeconomic status, type of family and source of information at 0.05 level of significance. H5 : There will be significant correlation between mother’s pretest knowledge and pre-test attitude on Complementary Feeding at 0.05 level of significance. Materials and Methods The research approach used for the study was evaluative approach with one group pre-test post-test design. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the subjects for the study. The study was conducted in two primary health centres (PHCs) of Udupi Taluk with a sample size of 50 mothers. The data were collected by means of demographic proforma, knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale on Complementary Feeding and opinionnaire on acceptability of planned teaching programme. The content validity of the developed tools was established through experts’ agreement. A planned teaching programme was developed and content validity was established. Pre-testing of the tools and PTP was done on five mothers from Brahmavar PHC. Pilot study was conducted on six mothers of Heriadka PHC. Data collection for the main study was done in May 2006. On

day 1, pre-test knowledge and attitude scores were collected using a structured knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale and planned teaching was administered. On day 8, post-test was done using same questionnaire and opinionnaire on acceptability of PTP was taken. The analysis of the data was planned based on objectives and hypotheses of the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis and interpretations. Demographic data was analysed using frequency, percentage and mean. Paired t-test was used to test the effectiveness of PTP. Chi square value was used to find association between pretest knowledge and attitude with selected variables. Results of the Study The study showed that most of the mothers were in the age group of 22-24 years (44%) and most of them(48%) were primi mothers. Majority of the mothers were from joint family (80%), 70 percent belonged to lower socio-economic status, and 76 percent of mothers got information about Complementary Feeding from their mothers. The mean post-test knowledge score (32) was higher than the mean pretest knowledge score (14). The mean score of post-test attitude (68) was higher than the mean pre-test attitude score (50). The t-test computed to determine the significance of difference between the pre-test and post-test knowledge and attitude scores of mothers on Complementary Feeding and the t values obtained were 12.74 and 13.25 respec-	tively, [t (49) =2.04, p < 0.05]. .. Association of pre-test knowledge and the selected variables : There was significant association with knowledge of mothers on Complementary Feeding and selected variables like number of children (.2=3.91) and socioeconomic status (.2=7.47). No significant association was observed between the pre-test knowledge level of mothers on Complementary Feeding and selected variables like age of the mother, age of the youngest child in months, type of family and educational status. Association of pre-test attitude and the selected variables: No significant association was observed between the pre-test attitude of mothers on Complementary Feeding and selected variables like age of mother, number of children, age of the youngest child in months, socioeconomic status, type of family and educational status. Relationship between pretest knowledge scores and pre-test attitude scores: There was significant relationship between the pretest knowledge scores and pre-test attitude scores on Complementary Feeding. Opinionnaire on acceptability of PTP: Majority (80%) expressed that PTP was easy to understand. Majority (74%) of the reported that the PTP includes all content regarding Complementary Feeding. There was no disagreement regarding acceptability of PTP. Recommendations On the basis of these findings	following recommendations were made for future research. A study can be done (i) on a larger sample with different demographic characteristics, (ii) with a control group. A survey can be conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers regarding infant feeding. A comparative study can be conducted to identify the infant feeding practices among mothers before and after a PTP. A follow-up study can be conducted to determine the effect of the PTP in terms of change in infant feeding practices of those mothers who attended the PTP. References 1. Avery A, Baxter A. (2001). ‘Change to cup’: An audit to determine parental awareness and practices in changing from bottle to cup. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics; 14(3) : 217-223 2. Aggarwal A, Arora S, Patwari AK (1998). Breastfeeding among urban women of low socio-economic status: Factors influencing introduction of supplemental feeds before four months of age. Indian Pediatrics; 35: 269-272 3. Black MM, Stegel EH, Abel Y, Bentley ME (2001). Home and videotape intervention delays early complementary feeding among adolescent mothers. Pediatrics 107: 67-69 4. Corbett KS (1999). Infant feeding styles of West Indian women. Journal of Transcultural Nursing; 10 (1): 22-30 5. Das DK, Ahmed S (1995). Knowledge and attitude of the Bangladeshi rural mothers regarding breastfeeding and weaning. Indian Journal of Pediatrics; 62(2): 213-217 6. Datta Banik ND (1987). Breastfeeding and weaning practices of Indian pre-school children. Indian Journal of Community Medicine; 12:109-116