Factors associated with nutritional status of children under the age of 5 years in the working area of Sadabuan Public Health Center

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to identify the relationship of knowledge, perception and exclusive breastfeeding with the nutritional status of children under five in the Working Area of Sadabuan Public Health Center. METHOD: A cross-sectional approach was employed with the total number of population was 240 and 71 people of which were selected to be the research samples through purposive sampling technique. The variables studied were mothers' knowledge, perceptions, exclusive breastfeeding and nutritional status. Chi square test was carried out to identify the correlation between the variables. RESULT: The nutritional status of children under 5 years in the study was dominantly good (73.24%) and it could still be seen that there were children suffering from malnutrition (1.41%). It was obtained that mothers' knowledge about children's nutrition was associated with children's nutritional status (p = 0.034), mother's perceptions about nutrition fulfillment was associated with nutritional status of children under 5 years of age (p = 0.008), and exclusive breastfeeding was also associated with children's nutritional status (p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Mothers' knowledge and perception about nutritional status as well as exclusive breastfeeding are associated with the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age. Therefore, the role of health practitioners is needed in order to give health education, particularly about nutritional status and kinds of food that contain carbohydrate, protein, vitamin, and mineral needed in children's growth and development

RESUMEN

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