The influence of intensive nutritional counseling in Posyandu towards the growth 4-18 month old children

Abstract

Introduction Under 5 years is a critical period for child growth, when growth faltering often occurs. Periodical growth monitoring and nutritional counseling can detect growth faltering earlier, determine the cause, and find alternatives to solve such problems. Objective To determine the benefit of nutritional counseling on knowledge, attitude, practice of mothers, and child growth. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted in Sendangguwo, Semarang on 143 children of the treatment group and 135 children of the control group. Nutritional counseling was given to mothers in the treatment group by trained health volunteers. Changes of weight for age Z-score (WAZ), height for age Zscore (HAZ), and weight for height Z-score (WHZ) were analyzed repeatedly by using ANOVA. The differences of ΔWAZ, ΔHAZ, and ΔWHZ between groups were compared by student t-test. GEE (generalized estimating equation) analysis was used to analyze the effect of confounding variables on the changes of WAZ. Results After 6 months of counseling, knowledge, attitude, and practice of nutrition in the treatment group significantly increased compared to that of the control group (P<0.001). The WAZ, HAZ, and WHZ curves in the control group decreased. However, in the treatment group, WHZ increased and there was stabilization of WAZ. At the end of the study, treatment group had significantly improved their WAZ (P<0.001), HAZ (P=0.004), and WHZ (P<0.001) compared to that of the control group. Conclusion Nutritional counseling can improve knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers, and has beneficial effects on child growth by WAZ, HAZ, and WHZ