Awareness on weaning diet among mothers of under five children in North Gujarat

Malnutrition caused by ineffective weaning techniques used during infancy and early childhood might affect cognitive and social development, school performance, and productivity in later life. The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of education program in enhancing the awareness of mothers of under 5 children regarding weaning diet. The data was collected from 60 mothers of under 5 year's children. The existing awareness was assessed using a self-structured questionnaire. After pre intervention test, the mothers were provided with educational pamphlets and teaching programme with the help of pictures and charts. Benefits of complementary feeding, types of diet and its importance were included in the teaching program. The effectiveness of the teaching programme was assessed seven days after the start of the education programme. The mean score on the pre-test was 6.98, and the mean score on the post-test was 15.46. The average disparity was 8.48. The pre-test knowledge score's standard deviation was 3.85 and the post-test knowledge score's standard deviation was 4.23. The DF value was 59, the p value was 1.671, and the calculated "t" value is 24.98. At the 0.05 level of significance, the estimated "t" value (24.98) was higher than the table value (1.67) indicating that the education programme was successful in improving mothers' knowledge of weaning food.