Hojati Ali, Abbasalizad Farhangi Mahdieh
Tabriz Health Services Management Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2025 Apr 23;8(1):e001007. doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2024-001007. eCollection 2025.
Undernutrition during childhood can negatively impact a child's health, growth, cognitive abilities, and future educational and economic attainment in adulthood. Also, childhood undernutrition can lead to a higher risk of developing non-communicable diseases. Alongside several socioeconomic and environmental factors contributing to children's undernutrition, maternal nutrition literacy is of noticeable importance. The ubiquity of mobile devices and their use in daily life create new paths for health promotion interventions.
The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of the application in promoting maternal nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice, as well as children's nutritional status.
We conducted a two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial (1:1 ratio) involving 116 mothers of children aged 2-6 years with undernutrition. Participants were allocated to the intervention ( application+standard care) or the control group (standard care alone). All outcomes were measured at baseline and after a 3-month intervention period.
There were no significant differences between baseline characteristics of mothers and children. We found that the interaction effect of time and group was significant for weight and body mass index (BMI) for age, but not significant for height for age. We also observed that the effect of time and group interaction was significant for maternal nutritional knowledge, feeding attitudes and nutrition practices.
The maternal nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices in the intervention group were higher than the control group. Also, children's weight and BMI for age z-scores changed more compared with the control group.
IRCT20140907019082N11.
儿童期营养不良会对儿童的健康、生长、认知能力以及成年后的教育和经济成就产生负面影响。此外，儿童期营养不良会增加患非传染性疾病的风险。除了一些导致儿童营养不良的社会经济和环境因素外，母亲的营养知识水平也具有显著重要性。移动设备的普及及其在日常生活中的使用为健康促进干预创造了新途径。
我们研究的目的是评估该应用程序在促进母亲营养知识、态度和行为以及儿童营养状况方面的效果。
我们进行了一项双臂平行随机对照试验（1:1比例），纳入了116名2至6岁营养不良儿童的母亲。参与者被分配到干预组（应用程序+标准护理）或对照组（仅标准护理）。所有结局指标在基线和3个月的干预期后进行测量。
母亲和儿童的基线特征之间没有显著差异。我们发现，时间和组别的交互作用对年龄别体重和体重指数（BMI）有显著影响，但对年龄别身高没有显著影响。我们还观察到，时间和组别的交互作用对母亲的营养知识、喂养态度和营养行为有显著影响。
干预组母亲的营养知识、态度和行为高于对照组。此外，与对照组相比，儿童的年龄别体重和BMI的z评分变化更大。
IRCT20140907019082N11。
