Association between Cadre Knowledge, Feeding Behaviours and Daily Intake with Changes in Nutritional Status of Undernourished Children in Kawangu Health Centre, East Sumba

<p>Background and purpose: In 2012, in Eastern Sumba 21% of children under 5 were malnourished; at the KawanguHealth Centre (KHC) it was reported that 3.4% of children were underweight. This study was aimed to investigaterelationships between cadre knowledge, motivation and behavior of child carers with the nutritional status changes ofchildren from KHC.</p><p>feeding behaviors and change in nutritional status. Data on cadre knowledge and motivation was collected through aself-administered questionnaire and through interviews conducted with child carers. Anthropometric measurementswere taken to assess changes in nutritional status of children. Analysis used univariate and bivariate chi-squared test.</p><p>Results: Results indicated respondents were aged 26-35 (41.2%), had elementary school education (56.2%), werefarmers (91.2%), had experience as cadres for 2 years (53.8%), were trained (72.5%) and had been involved with theprogram less than &lt;45 days (91.2%). About 55.0% of respondents indicated a high level of knowledge and were highlymotivated (86.2%). Carers indicated a fair behaviour change (51.2%), although there was an increase in improvement innutritional status (63.8%). There was relationship between cadre knowledge and changes in feeding behaviours(p=0.016), but not with cadre motivation (p=0.500). There was an association between feeding behavior (p=0.032) withchanges in nutritional status.