title: Women's autonomy and social support and their associations with infant and young child feeding and nutritional status: community-based survey in rural Nicaragua.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the associations of women's autonomy and social support with infant and young child feeding practices (including consumption of highly processed snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages) and nutritional status in rural Nicaragua.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study. Feeding practices and children's nutritional status were evaluated according to the WHO guidelines complemented with information on highly processed snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages. Women's autonomy was assessed by a seventeen-item questionnaire covering dimensions of financial independence, household-, child-, reproductive and health-related decision making and freedom of movement. Women's social support was determined using the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire. The scores attained were categorized into tertiles.
  
  
  METHODS
  Los Cuatro Santos area, rural Nicaragua.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1371 children 0-35 months of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children of women with the lowest autonomy were more likely to be exclusively breast-fed and continue to be breast-fed, while children of women with middle level of autonomy had better complementary feeding practices. Children of women with the lowest social support were more likely to consume highly processed snacks and/or sugar-sweetened beverages but also be taller.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While lower levels of autonomy and social support were independently associated with some favourable feeding and nutrition outcomes, this may not indicate a causal relationship but rather that these factors reflect other matters of importance for child care.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Women's and Children's Health,International Maternal and Child Health Unit (IMCH),University Hospital,SE-751 85,Uppsala University,Uppsala,Sweden.
authors.forename: Shirin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ziaei
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Women's and Children's Health,International Maternal and Child Health Unit (IMCH),University Hospital,SE-751 85,Uppsala University,Uppsala,Sweden.
authors.forename: Mariela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.affiliation: 2Asociación para el Desarrollo Económico y Social de El Espino (APRODESE),Chinandega,Nicaragua.
authors.forename: Elmer
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zelaya Blandón
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Women's and Children's Health,International Maternal and Child Health Unit (IMCH),University Hospital,SE-751 85,Uppsala University,Uppsala,Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars-Åke
authors.initials: LÅ
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.affiliation: 3Centre for Health Equity Studies,Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University,Stockholm,Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hjern
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Women's and Children's Health,International Maternal and Child Health Unit (IMCH),University Hospital,SE-751 85,Uppsala University,Uppsala,Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva-Charlotte
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ekström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009527:Nicaragua; D009752:Nutritional Status; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population; D062410:Snacks; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Child feeding and nutrition; Nicaragua; Social support; Women’s autonomy