Maternal and child nutrition services associated with nutritional knowledge and practices, India

Abstract

Objective To evaluate whether maternal and child nutrition activities provided through the Indian Integrated Child Development Services scheme in India were associated with improved nutritional knowledge and practices among beneficiary women. Methods We used a multistage sampling design to randomly select 4400 pregnant women or mothers of children younger than 2 years for a cross-sectional telephone survey. The respondents were beneficiaries of the scheme from across 11 Indian states. We used multivariate regression models controlling for sociodemographic factors to estimate the association between: scheme activities and nutrition messages heard; and scheme activities and nutrition practices. We also estimated the proportion of the total association with nutrition practices which was mediated by nutrition messages. Results Among 110 regression models testing unique pairs of seven activities and 18 nutrition messages, 103 showed a statistically significant positive relationship (median risk ratio, RR: 1.14). For activities and nine nutrition practices, 39 out of 54 tested pairs were significantly associated (median RR: 1.16). We observed statistically significant mediation through nutrition messages for 28 out of 42 tested pairs of activities and nutrition practices. Conclusion Receipt of the scheme’s activities was associated with improved nutrition knowledge and practices. Improvements in practices were statistically mediated by improvements in knowledge. These findings suggest that a large-scale nutrition scheme with a strong counselling component could successfully change beneficiary behaviours.

Assessing progress on the coverage of interventions in the first 1000 days in India: role of national programs

“…These 11 states account for 82% of the total beneficiary population under the ICDS. 15 The remaining states are labelled as non-priority states for ease of reference in this paper.…”

Assessing progress on the coverage of interventions in the first 1000 days in India: role of national programs

“…These 11 states account for 82% of the total beneficiary population under the ICDS. 15 The remaining states are labelled as non-priority states for ease of reference in this paper.…”

Mobile Health Interventions for Caregivers to Prevent Stunting Among Children: A Scoping Review

“…Studies from South Africa, India and Egypt indicated that mothers with higher nutrition knowledge were less likely to experience stunting in their children (Andersen et al 2024;Ayed et al 2021;Masilela and Modjadji 2023). Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024). These findings suggest that improved maternal knowledge can introduce mothers' behavioural change, leading to better nutritional outcomes for children (Andersen et al 2024).…”

“…Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024). These findings suggest that improved maternal knowledge can introduce mothers' behavioural change, leading to better nutritional outcomes for children (Andersen et al 2024).…”

“…Implementing mothers' nutritional interventions has been shown to reduce stunting occurrence rates in children under 5 years old (Putri et al 2024). Studies from South Africa, India and Egypt indicated that mothers with higher nutrition knowledge were less likely to experience stunting in their children (Andersen et al 2024;Ayed et al 2021;Masilela and Modjadji 2023). Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024).…”

Assessing progress on the coverage of interventions in the first 1000 days in India: role of national programs

“…These 11 states account for 82% of the total beneficiary population under the ICDS. 15 The remaining states are labelled as non-priority states for ease of reference in this paper.…”

Mobile Health Interventions for Caregivers to Prevent Stunting Among Children: A Scoping Review

“…Studies from South Africa, India and Egypt indicated that mothers with higher nutrition knowledge were less likely to experience stunting in their children (Andersen et al 2024;Ayed et al 2021;Masilela and Modjadji 2023). Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024). These findings suggest that improved maternal knowledge can introduce mothers' behavioural change, leading to better nutritional outcomes for children (Andersen et al 2024).…”

“…Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024). These findings suggest that improved maternal knowledge can introduce mothers' behavioural change, leading to better nutritional outcomes for children (Andersen et al 2024).…”

“…Implementing mothers' nutritional interventions has been shown to reduce stunting occurrence rates in children under 5 years old (Putri et al 2024). Studies from South Africa, India and Egypt indicated that mothers with higher nutrition knowledge were less likely to experience stunting in their children (Andersen et al 2024;Ayed et al 2021;Masilela and Modjadji 2023). Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024).…”

Assessing progress on the coverage of interventions in the first 1000 days in India: role of national programs

“…These 11 states account for 82% of the total beneficiary population under the ICDS. 15 The remaining states are labelled as non-priority states for ease of reference in this paper.…”

Mobile Health Interventions for Caregivers to Prevent Stunting Among Children: A Scoping Review

“…Studies from South Africa, India and Egypt indicated that mothers with higher nutrition knowledge were less likely to experience stunting in their children (Andersen et al 2024;Ayed et al 2021;Masilela and Modjadji 2023). Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024). These findings suggest that improved maternal knowledge can introduce mothers' behavioural change, leading to better nutritional outcomes for children (Andersen et al 2024).…”

“…Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024). These findings suggest that improved maternal knowledge can introduce mothers' behavioural change, leading to better nutritional outcomes for children (Andersen et al 2024).…”

“…Implementing mothers' nutritional interventions has been shown to reduce stunting occurrence rates in children under 5 years old (Putri et al 2024). Studies from South Africa, India and Egypt indicated that mothers with higher nutrition knowledge were less likely to experience stunting in their children (Andersen et al 2024;Ayed et al 2021;Masilela and Modjadji 2023). Child development programmes that incorporate mother counselling services have shown improvement in maternal knowledge and nutritional practices in India (Andersen et al 2024).…”