An educational programme to empower mothers and caregivers on feeding practices of children under the age of 5 years in Oshikoto region, Namibia
Loading...
Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Health facilities do provide mothers with information regarding feeding practice of children under the age of five years. It seems however that the impact of such information is extremely minimal because poor feeding practices remain a problem in Namibia. Such practices contribute to undernutrition in children under the age of five years. The Oshikoto region is among the top five regions with children affected by undernutrition. The purpose of this study was to develop an educational programme to empower mothers, and caregivers, on feeding practices of children under the age of five years in the Oshikoto region. The objectives of the study were: to explore and describe the experiences of mothers, and caregivers, on feeding practices of children under the age of five years; to develop a conceptual framework which formed the basis of an educational programme; to develop an educational programme to empower mothers and caregivers on feeding practices of children under the age of five years; and to implement and evaluate an educational programme. The study was conducted in four phases. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was utilised in the first phases of this study. The first phase was a situational analysis which explored and described the experiences of mothers and caregivers on feeding practices of children under the age of five years. An unstructured individual in-depth interview was conducted during this phase: fifteen respondents were purposively selected and interviewed. Data were analysed using Tesch`s method of qualitative analysis. Four themes, and fourteen sub-themes, were identified. The study revealed that mothers and caregivers utilise suboptimal feeding practices; they experience factors which influenced feeding practices; they lack nutritional and feeding practices information; they encountered limited resources which influenced feeding practices. The second phase addressed a conceptual framework which guided the development of an educational programme, to empower mothers and caregivers on feeding practices of children under the age of five years, and was based on Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach`s survey list. The third phase concentrated on the development of an educational programme to empower mothers and caregivers. This was done based on the findings from the study and guided by Nicholls` cyclic curriculum development model. The fourth phase covered the programme implementation and evaluation and a two day workshop conducted at the Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital in the Oshikoto region. This phase was guided by Kolb`s theory of experiential learning and Knowles’ model of andragogy. The workshop was attended by mothers and caregivers of children under the age of five years. The programme was evaluated during and after its implementation; the workshop participants indicated that it was useful and supportive. It is recommended that such programme need to be given to pregnant women and postpartum mothers as this will help them to feed their babies propely and prevent undernutrition.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of of Philosophy in Public Health
Keywords
Caregivers, Feedings practices