Growth charts only marginally improved maternal learning from nutrition education and growth monitoring in Lesotho.

ABSTRACT

PIP: Between December 1985 and November 1986, before and after 3 monthly sessions of group nutrition counseling and individual counseling about weaning and diarrhea management at 9 primary health clinics in Lesotho, researchers compared data on 575 mothers who received a growth chart to monitor their 2-year old children's growth with data on 201 mothers of 2-year old children who did not receive a growth chart. They wanted to learn whether growth charts promoted maternal learning and whether the growth charts better served some mothers than other mothers. Growth monitoring intervention improved knowledge of diarrhea management but not weaning practices. This improvement in learning about diarrhea management was limited to new clinic attendants, mothers with less than high school education, and mothers with malnourished children, however. Yet the differences in benefits between these 2 groups were 10% and insignificant. Nutrition education interventions had significantly improved knowledge of weaning practices and diarrhea management for both groups of mothers (range of improvement 3-119.2%; p.05). The greatest improvements occurred in correct responses to continuous feeding of solid foods during diarrhea (119.2% for mothers who did not receive charts and 85.2% for those who did) and to introduction of protein rich vegetables to children's diet (42.6% and 58.9%, respectively). Thus use of growth charts contributed only slightly to increased effectiveness of nutrition education. It appeared that the quality and specificity of educational projects and proper use of weight information during individual counseling contributed the most to improved maternal learning. Nevertheless further research is warranted to learn the circumstances, purposes, and target audience under which use of growth charts would bring the most benefits.