Scaling Up Nutrition People's Forum, Colombo 00700, Sri Lanka.
Health Promotion Bureau, Colombo 01000, Sri Lanka.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 28;20(3):2324. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032324.
A woman's nutrition during pregnancy and nursing affects the mother and the growing child. Similarly, the first two years of a child's life are critical to their growth and development and are facilitated by optimum nutrition. Women's nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices influence household food and nutrition security. Mobile health (mHealth) is a potentially effective health intervention in pandemic situations when physical gatherings are restricted.
To examine the effectiveness of a mobile phone-based nutrition education intervention targeting pregnant and nursing mothers in six Sri Lankan divisional secretariat areas.
This intervention was evaluated using a before and after within-subjects design. The intervention included 19 messages over four weeks sent via mobile phone, covering nutrition themes such as pregnancy care, infant and young child-feeding, diet, family care for mother and child, and cash management. The intervention was evaluated based on a quantitative survey using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and qualitative interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study population was pregnant and nursing mothers. The objective of the qualitative interviews was to identify how respondents used messages and how satisfied they were with the project. The outcome measures were awareness/knowledge, attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy, behaviour intentions, and practices of pregnant and nursing mothers. Trained enumerators collected data using a mobile phone.
A total of 996 pregnant and nursing mothers participated in the pre-assessment survey, of which 720 completed the post-assessment. Most were nursing mothers (84.2% pre- and 78.9% post-assessment). Participants provided positive feedback on the intervention. Knowledge/awareness (t = -18.70, < 0.01) and attitudes (t = -2.00, < 0.05) increased when exposed to the intervention. Favourable improvements in the practices were also observed. Mothers' practices related to breastfeeding and 24-h dietary diversity showed a statistically significant improvement. However, social norms and behaviour intentions did not significantly improve. The qualitative component also revealed favourable responses.
The mobile intervention improved participants' knowledge, awareness, attitude, and practices, but not social norms or behaviour intentions. This approach is recommended to be used on a larger scale in community settings. In addition, mobile technology could drive intervention in pandemic-related situations.
女性在妊娠和哺乳期的营养状况不仅影响其自身，还会影响到腹中的胎儿。同样地，儿童生命的头两年对其生长和发育至关重要，而最佳的营养则是其生长和发育的关键。妇女的营养相关知识、态度和行为会影响家庭的食物和营养安全。在限制人员聚集的大流行时期，移动健康（mHealth）是一种潜在有效的健康干预手段。
在斯里兰卡六个地区评估一项针对孕妇和哺乳期妇女的基于手机的营养教育干预措施的效果。
本研究采用前后自身对照设计。该干预措施包括四周内发送的 19 条信息，涵盖妊娠护理、婴幼儿喂养、饮食、母婴家庭护理和现金管理等营养主题。该干预措施基于使用结构化访谈员问卷调查和半结构化问卷的定性访谈进行评估。研究人群为孕妇和哺乳期妇女。定性访谈的目的是确定受访者如何使用信息以及他们对项目的满意度。主要结局指标为孕妇和哺乳期妇女的知识/意识、态度、社会规范、自我效能、行为意向和行为实践。经过培训的调查员使用手机收集数据。
共有 996 名孕妇和哺乳期妇女参加了预评估调查，其中 720 名完成了后评估。大多数是哺乳期妇女（干预前 84.2%，干预后 78.9%）。参与者对干预措施给予了积极的反馈。在接触干预措施后，知识/意识（t=-18.70，<0.01）和态度（t=-2.00，<0.05）有所提高。实践方面也观察到了有利的改善。母亲的母乳喂养和 24 小时饮食多样性等实践行为有了统计学意义上的显著改善。然而，社会规范和行为意向并没有显著改善。定性部分也显示出了有利的反应。
移动干预措施提高了参与者的知识、意识、态度和实践行为，但没有改善社会规范或行为意向。建议在社区环境中更大规模地采用这种方法。此外，移动技术可以在大流行相关情况下推动干预措施的实施。
