Maternal Care Practices Associated with Nutritional Status in Children Under Five Years in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Background: The adequacy of nutrition of children under five years old is influenced by maternal factors. Therefore, mothers are recognized as an important indicator on children nutritional status. The study aimed to examine the relationship between maternal care practices and nutritional status in children under five years old in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.

Methods: A descriptive correlational design which employed a systematic random sampling method to select 327 mothers who had children aged six months until five years old was conducted. Data was collected by self-reporting questionnaires to assess the maternal care practices. Anthropometric was performed to examine the nutritional status of children under five years old. The nutritional status of children was evaluated by using WHO Anthro software v3.2.2 which was based on weight for age (WAZ). Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze data.

Results: The study showed that there were statistically significant relationship between maternal care practices and nutritional status in children under five years old. Variables that were positively and statistically significant correlated with nutritional status in children under five years old were breastfeeding practice (c² = 18.62, p < .001), and child immunization (c² = 10.94, p< .001). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between complementary feeding and nutritional status.

Conclusion: The findings of the study confirmed that mothers had an important influence on the nutritional status of children under five years old. Nurses as health care providers should pay more attention to this group of mothers with the aim of improving the children's nutritional status.