Maternal Knowledge of Stunting in Rural Indonesia

Abstract

Child undernutrition and stunting remain serious public health problems in Indonesia. According to the Health Belief Model, increasing mothers' knowledge of stunting is fundamental to establishing accurate threat perceptions predictive of behavior change. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of factors related to maternal knowledge of stunting in Indonesia by addressing three questions: 1) How familiar with stunting are Indonesian mothers? 2) What antecedent factors do Indonesian mothers associate with stunting? and 3) What health effects do Indonesian mothers associate with stunting? A total of 3,150 mothers participated in structured face-to-face interviews. Study measures targeted four main variables. Mothers were asked: 1) Have you heard of stunting?; 2) Have you heard of shortness?; 3) What causes stunting/shortness?; and 4) What are the effects of stunting? Only 66 (2.1%) mothers reported having heard of, read about, or knew something about stunting. Approximately two-thirds of participants attributed stunting to hereditary factors. Interrupted growth (33.7%), idiocy (13.8%), and easy to get sick (11.8%) were identified as health effects of stunting. Results highlight the need for health promotion and education efforts focused on increasing basic knowledge of stunting, its causes, and its health effects among Indonesian mothers.

Stunting and Developmental Delays Among Children Aged 6–59 Mo

“…The proportion of stunting in this study was higher than the national prevalence (30.8%) or the Kabupaten Bogor prevalence (28.0%). This finding could indicate that stunted children have a higher risk of mild illness [10], since stunting is found to be related to immunity [11][12][13]. On the other hand, a proportion of suspected developmental delays in this study (44.57%) reconfirmed results from previous studies (6-48%) [14][15][16][17].…”

Cigarette smoke exposure and increased risks of stunting among under-five children

“…Research results in Indonesia state that only 66 (2.1%) hear, read, and know about stunting. 3 Lack of knowledge will lead to low access to health facilities. 15 This showed that public knowledge about stunting still needs to be improved to form behaviors that support stunting prevention.…”

“…1 Chronic malnutrition has a long-term impact on cognitive development, as well as on the increase of child morbidity and mortality. 2 The incidence of stunting in the world is estimated at 156 million, 3 while in Indonesia, it reaches 30.8%, according to the 2018 Basic Health Research. 4 The causes of stunting in children are, however, complex, not only solely about malnutrition.…”

“…More comprehensive research on the causes of stunting is needed to provide appropriate information to the public in determining efforts to promote health prevention of stunting. 3 Smoking is one of the health problems faced in Indonesia. In the Healthy Indonesia Program with the Family Approach, the achievement of the indicator is still low at 44.74%, meaning that only about 44.74% of family members do not smoke.…”

Correlation Between Immunization Status and Mother’s Height, and Stunting in Children 2–5 Years in Indonesia

“…A study in Palu by Rahman, Napirah, Nadila, & Bohari (2017) found that stunting is not only a problem in rural areas, but also in urban areas in Sulawesi. A study from Hall et al (2018) implied that mothers who live in a rural area lack knowledge about stunting. A study in Bangladesh showed that children in urban slum areas are at higher risk (Islam et al, 2018).…”