A Study to Assess the Knowledge on the Supplementary Feeding among Mothers with Children age 6–24 Months in Selected Rural Community at Mullana, Ambala

An evaluative study was conducted to assess the knowledge of mothers on supplementary feeding who was having children aged 6–24 months in a selected rural community area at Ambala and also to determine the association between pre test knowledge and baseline characteristics of mothers who were having children aged 6–24 months.

An evaluative approach was used for the study. The research design was descriptive. The sample comprised of 40 mothers who had children aged 6–24 months. The area was selected by convenience sampling whereas subject was selected by purposive sampling technique. The data collection was carried out from 13 May, 2010 to 21 May, 2010 under Primary Health Centre Mullana, Ambala to conduct the study and informed consent was obtained from participants prior to the collection process. Data was collected by administering the semi-structured interview schedule

The results of this study revealed that a majority of the respondents had poor level of knowledge (32.5%), (37.5%) had average, (15%) had good and (15%) had excellent knowledge on supplementary feeding. The mean knowledge score of mothers was 15.9. The knowledge score of the subjects on supplementary feeding was in range of 6–26. The mean ±S.D. of the knowledge score was 15.9 ±3.48, and median was 16. It was concluded that the knowledge of mothers regarding supplementary feeding had association with the baseline characteristics namely occupation of husband.

The findings of the study support the need for conducting health education, counseling and mass awareness program on supplementary feeding to the public. Study proved that the mothers had poor knowledge of supplementary feeding and there was an association between knowledge score and baseline characteristics.