Maternal knowledge and satisfaction with nutritional counseling on complementary feeding

Villarroel Alarcon G.; Mendoza Zumba C.A.; Gomez Rutti Y.Y.; Castro Mattos M.A.; Vidal Huamán F.G. · Nutricion Clinica y Dietetica Hospitalaria (2025) · DOI: 10.12873/453villarroel

Resumen

Introduction: Nutritional counseling on complementary feeding plays an important educational role for mothers of infants under one year of age. The level of knowledge that mothers possess has an impact on their children’s nutrition, and even more so if they are satisfied with the nutritional counseling they receive. Objective: To determine the relationship between maternal knowledge levels and satisfaction regarding nutritional counseling on complementary feeding of children aged 6 to 8 months. Materials and methods: The research design is non-experimental, with a quantitative, descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional approach. The sample consisted of 100 mothers of children aged 6 to 8 months who attend and are registered at three health centers in Lima. The surveys were administered by nutritionist interviewers; data collection was carried out using two validated surveys, consisting of 19 questions on complementary feeding knowledge. Scores were considered on a scale of 0 to 6 for poor, 7 to 12 for fair, and 13 to 19 for high. There were also 25 questions on satisfaction with nutritional counseling. The scale scores were 50 to 116 for poor, 117 to 182 for fair, and 183 to 250 for high. Data were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test to relate the level of knowledge about complementary feeding and the level of satisfaction with nutritional counseling on complementary feeding, with a significance level of p<0.05. Results: The average age was 27 years (SD=6.11). Forty-two percent of mothers had fair knowledge and 51% had fair satisfaction with nutritional counseling. The more children mothers have, the higher their level of knowledge about complementary feeding (p=0.001) and the higher their satisfaction with nutritional counseling (p=0.001). Likewise, there is a relationship between the study variables (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Mothers have fair knowledge about complementary feeding and satisfaction with nutritional counseling and acquire more knowledge when they have more children. It is the responsibility of the healthcare professional to provide educational and demonstration sessions on complementary feeding to achieve meaningful learning and satisfaction in mothers or caregivers.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Educación Enrique Guzmán y Valle