title: Application of the Health Belief Model to Teach Complementary Feeding Messages in Ethiopia.
abstract: In Ethiopia many women do not practice appropriate complementary feeding (CF). The Health Belief Model (HBM) asserts that change in behavior is determined after consideration of severity, benefit, and barriers to change. This study examined the effectiveness of 3 months of HBM-based education compared to the traditional (didactic) method on CF practices of mothers, with no education as control, using three randomized groups. One hundred sixty-six mother-infant (6-18 months) pairs were recruited. At baseline and after intervention, knowledge, perceptions, and practices about CF and related areas were determined. It was only diet diversity that increased significantly in the HBM group (from 3.05±0.94 food groups to 3.79±0.82, p<.05) while the other two groups had no change. Improvements in food groups were most noticeable as legumes & nuts (from 35.6% use to 83.9% in HBM group). Thus, nutrition education about diet diversity improvement needs to be conducted promotes behavior change.
authors.affiliation: a College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University , Arba Minch , Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Befikadu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tariku
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Whiting
authors.forename: Demmelash
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mulualem
authors.forename: Pragya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D003469:Culture; D004032:Diet; D005002:Ethiopia; D007887:Fabaceae; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008297:Male; D017145:Models, Educational; D009035:Mothers; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009754:Nuts; D014886:Weaning
keywords: behavior; breast-feeding; dietary diversity