Knowledge and Application of Balanced Nutrition on Toddlers During Pandemic

Abstract

Toddlers are an age group that is vulnerable to nutritional disorders. A balanced nutritional intake will have an impact on children's development and also play an important role in immunity to prevent and fight COVID-19, especially in early childhood. Nutrition education is an effective effort in changing the behavior of mothers. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of health education on knowledge and behavior of mothers in the application of toddler’s balanced nutrition in Sidoarjo region. This study used a pre-experimental design with a one group pre post test approach. The sample of this research is mothers who have children aged 1-5 years in the village of Sukodono Sidoarjo totaling 30 respondents, the sampling technique is purposive sampling. The statistical test used are the Paired T test and Wilcoxon test. The Paired t test results obtained p value 0.011 (α = 0.05), which means that there is an effect of health education on the level of knowledge about balanced nutrition in toddlers, while the Wilcoxon test results on the practice of implementing toddler’s balanced nutrition obtained p value 0.091 which means there is no effect health education on the practice of implementing balanced nutrition in toddlers. Thus it can be concluded that there is a significant difference in the level of knowledge of respondents before and after being given health education, while the practice of implementing toddler’s balanced nutrition has no difference before and after being given health education

improvement of knowledge, attitude, and behavior of toddler feeding through nutrition education video

“…In article two (Widowati et al, 2021), there is an effect of mother's knowledge level about balanced nutrition in toddlers before and after being given health education in the form of videos, audiovisual media contains explanations of the basic messages of balanced nutrition in toddlers which are presented attractively and with easy-to-understand language so as to facilitate the receipt of balanced nutrition information conveyed. In line with the research conducted by (Muluye et al, 2020) stating that optimal complementary feeding of breast milk depends on accurate information and skilled support from families, communities, and health systems.…”

“…As the basic theory developed by Lawrence Green in (Widowati et al, 2021), behavioral causes and non-behavioral causes are the main factors that affect someone's health. Behavioral causes are influenced by three factors, such as: predisposing factors (age, work, education, knowledge and attitudes), supporting factors (physical environment and distance to health facilities), and strengthening factors (support provided by families and community leaders).…”

“…The first article (Saaka et al, 2021) states that the benefits of educational media through radio are improve mother's knowledge about nutrition and the diversity of children's food, which can contribute significantly to children's growth if there are concurrent improvements in other barriers such as food insecurity and household socioeconomic constraints. In article two (Widowati et al, 2021) audiovisual media that presents knowledge and daily real-life experiences will be more easily accepted by mothers so that they can quickly increase their knowledge and understanding. Article five (Ernawati et al, 2021) states that web-based education using smartphones is a more interesting audiovisual presentation and can be played over and over again to make it easier to understand.…”

“…In the first article (Saaka et al, 2021) states that nutrition education is delivered through radio media on mother nutrition knowledge, feeding practices and child growth and development. In the second article (Widowati et al, 2021) the provision of health education through video media on motherl knowledge about balanced nutrition in toddlers. Based on the results of research in article five (Ernawati et al, 2021) it can be concluded that public health education through audiovisual media consisting of videos about toddler growth and development and web-based stunting can effectively improve parents' knowledge about monitoring the growth and development of toddlers.…”

“…In article two (Widowati et al, 2021) states that the dissemination of a balanced nutrition message for the community requires appropriate and community-based educational strategies and methods to have an impact on changing people's behavior towards balanced nutrition and healthy living behaviors. Strategies that can be done by practitioners are to develop a balanced nutrition message according to culture and use regional languages and appoint balanced nutrition ambassadors to be role models in feeding toddlers.…”