Alaofè Halimatou, Zhu Min, Burney Jennifer, Naylor Rosamond, Douglas Taren
1 Health Promotion Sciences Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
2 Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Food Nutr Bull. 2017 Sep;38(3):302-318. doi: 10.1177/0379572117704318. Epub 2017 Apr 26.
Evidence on effectiveness of women's empowerment (WE) to reduce undernutrition is limited in sub-Sahara Africa, and few studies incorporate multidimensional measures of WE.
To examine whether a WE status, in sum and across leadership, decision-making, mobility, economic security, male involvement in housework, and nonfamily group domains, is associated with women and their children nutritional status in Kalalé district of northern Benin.
Data were obtained from the 2014 Solar Market Garden baseline study: 767 paired reproductive-age women aged 15 to 49 years and children 6 to 59 months old. Exploratory principal component (cross-validate with confirmatory) factor analysis was first conducted to identify the structure of empowerment. Then, using a new survey-based index, regression analysis was conducted to examine associations between WE measures and maternal dietary diversity score (DDS) and body mass index (BMI), as well as their child's DDS, height-for-age z score (HAZ), weight-for-height z score (WHZ), and weight-for-age z score (WAZ).
Positive associations were observed between women's composite empowerment, leadership, maternal DDS and BMI, and female child's DDS. However, opposite signs were found between economic security and child's DDS. Mobility was positively associated with female children's WHZ and male children's HAZ and WAZ, while decision-making was correlated with male child's WHZ and female children's WAZ.
Women's empowerment can be associated with undernutrition. Efforts to improve nutrition may benefit from empowerment initiatives that promote women's self-confidence and decision-making in Benin. However, additional qualitative and longitudinal research may enhance understanding of WE in the present area.
在撒哈拉以南非洲，关于妇女赋权（WE）对减少营养不良有效性的证据有限，且很少有研究纳入妇女赋权的多维衡量指标。
探讨在贝宁北部卡拉莱区，综合及在领导力、决策、行动能力、经济安全、男性参与家务和非家庭群体领域等方面的妇女赋权状况，是否与妇女及其子女的营养状况相关。
数据来自2014年太阳能市场花园基线研究：767对年龄在15至49岁的育龄妇女及其6至59个月大的子女。首先进行探索性主成分（交叉验证与验证性）因子分析以确定赋权结构。然后，使用基于新调查的指数进行回归分析，以检验妇女赋权衡量指标与孕产妇饮食多样性得分（DDS）、体重指数（BMI），以及其子女的DDS、年龄别身高Z评分（HAZ）、身高别体重Z评分（WHZ）和年龄别体重Z评分（WAZ）之间的关联。
观察到妇女综合赋权、领导力、孕产妇DDS和BMI以及女童DDS之间存在正相关。然而，经济安全与儿童DDS之间发现了相反的迹象。行动能力与女童的WHZ以及男童的HAZ和WAZ呈正相关，而决策与男童的WHZ和女童的WAZ相关。
妇女赋权可能与营养不良有关。在贝宁，改善营养的努力可能受益于促进妇女自信和决策的赋权举措。然而，更多的定性和纵向研究可能会增进对该地区妇女赋权的理解。
