The evaluation of Mothers’ participation project in children's growth and development process: Using the CIPP evaluation model

BACKGROUND: Assessment of national children's growth indicated a high prevalence of growth failure among them. Many previous projects have studied the children's growth and nutrition status; but most of them leave it without evaluation. The aim of this study was to evaluate Mothers’ Participation Project that carried out in Isfahan after passing two years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this descriptive and summative evaluation study, 90 mother and child pairs were enrolled. They were studied in two case and control groups. We used CIPP Evaluation Model (Context, Input, Process, Product). Data collected using children growth chart and questionnaire was used in the project. Obtained data were analyzed by nonparametric statistical tests. RESULTS: The results showed significant differences between the two groups in following items; mean of maternal self-esteem (P < 0.001), maternal performance in training others (P = 0.006), weekly study time (P = 0.004), frequency of mothers participation in education programs (P = 0.002), their knowledge about the growth monitoring card (P = 0.03), their ability in drawing growth curves (P < 0.001), mothers knowledge about types of growth curves (P = 0.001) and the objectives of growth monitoring (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Considering the sustained improvement of maternal knowledge and function regarding children's growth and development after two years of participation in the project, the performance of CIPP model was confirmed in this field.