Behavior in fulfilling nutritional needs for Indonesian children with stunting: Related culture, family support, and mother’s knowledge

BACKGROUND: Stunting in children has adverse consequences such as a decrease in cognition, language, and academic performance. Most of the children in Indonesia were diagnosed with stunting. The aim of this study was to measure factors affecting behavior in fulfilling nutritional needs among children under the age of 5 years with stunting. DESIGN AND METHOD: This study used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from mothers who had children under the age of 5 years (6–48 months) in Talang village, Pamekasan Regency, Madura using a self-report questionnaire. The total sample in this study was 120, selected using a random sampling technique. The independent variables were maternal characteristics, culture, family support, and mother’s knowledge, while the dependent variable was the behavior in fulfilling nutritional needs among children. We used a self-report questionnaire to measure variables. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors affecting the behavior of fulfilling nutrition interventions. We used a statistical significance p < 0.05. RESULTS: Culture, family support, and knowledge were factors that affecting behavior of fulfilling nutritional needs among children under the age of 5 years with stunting, 0.279 (OR = 0.279, 95% CI: 0.084-0.920, p = 0.036); (OR = 2.435, 95% CI: 1.270-4.667, p = 0.007; OR = 4.860, 95% CI: 1.548-15.261, p = 0.724), respectively. CONCLUSION: Behavioral in Fulfilling nutritional needs determines the health status of children. Therefore, the awareness of parents, knowledge, and multisectoral is needed to prevent stunting among children.