Caregivers' nutritional knowledge and attitudes mediate seasonal shifts in children's diets

Abstract

Smallholder farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture experience seasonal variations in food and nutrient availability occasioned by seasonality of production patterns. This results in periods of nutrient abundance in the plenty seasons followed closely by periods of nutrient inadequacies and malnutrition. This pattern contributes to a cycle of deteriorating health and nutrition status and deprives children of their ability to realize full developmental potential. This study investigates the role of caregiver's nutritional knowledge and attitudes in mediating effects of seasonality on children's diets. Repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted on 151 randomly selected households in the plenty and lean seasons to collect dietary data using two non-consecutive quantitative 24-hr recalls and caregiver's nutritional knowledge and attitudes assessed using interviewer administered questionnaire. Sixty-five percent of the caregivers had attained a primary level education or less. There was a positive modest correlation between caregivers' nutritional knowledge and their attitudes (r = 0.3, P < 0.000, α = 0.01). Children's mean adequacy ratio was significantly higher in the plenty season than in the lean season (0.84 vs. 0.80, P < 0.000). A two-block hierarchical regression to predict the seasonal changes in dietary quality of children using caregiver's nutritional knowledge and attitude scores while controlling for the effect of sociodemographics and mean adequacy ratio at first season (plenty) found that caregiver's nutritional knowledge (ß = -0.007, SE = 0.003, P = 0.027, 95% CI [-0.013, -0.001] ŋ = 0.034) but not attitudes had significant contribution to the prediction. Maternal nutritional knowledge mediates seasonal variation in child nutrient intakes.

Caregivers’ Nutrition Knowledge and Dietary Intake of Type 1 Diabetic Children Aged 3–14 Years in Uganda

“…Our finding implies that caregivers with low formal education are probably less likely to acquire and process nutrition knowledge and should be targeted with innovative methods to enhance learning and knowledge retention. 33 Maternal nutrition knowledge has been positively associated with children's diet [34][35][36][37] since, caregivers play significant role in shaping the principles of rational nutrition among their children. 38 This study did not find significant associations between caregivers' NKS scores and children's DDS, mean intake of macronutrients as we had hypothesized.…”

Variation in the Factors Associated With Diet Quality of Children Aged 6 to 23 Months in Low and High Agroecological Zones of Rongai Subcounty, Kenya

“…This concurs with findings from studies in Ethiopia, Western Kenya, Nairobi, and Tanzania. 20,[31][32][33] Similarly, high household income in low potential area increased the chances of meeting MDD requirement for the child since high income increases economic access to a variety of foods in the household. Solomon et al 34 also reported that households with high income were more likely to feed their children with a diverse diet.…”

Men's nutrition knowledge is important for women's and children's nutrition in Ethiopia

“…Women's nutrition knowledge is strongly associated with children's dietary diversity, nutritional status and micronutrient intake (Block, 2004, 2007; Cunningham et al, 2017; Debela, Demmler, Rischke, & Qaim, 2017; Fadare, Amare, Mavrotas, Akerele, & Ogunniyi, 2019; Monteban, 2017; Oduor, Boedecker, Kennedy, Mituki‐Mungiria, & Termote, 2018; Ruel, Habicht, Pinstrup‐Andersen, & Grohn, 1992). However, the association between women's knowledge and her own diet and nutritional status remains unknown (Cunningham et al, 2017; Fadare et al, 2019; Schneider & Masters, 2018; Williams, Campbell, Abbott, Crawford, & Ball, 2012).…”