الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Proper nutrition in infancy is important for normal growth, resistance to infections, long term adult health, and optimum neurological and cognitive development. The first 2 years of a child’s life are especially important, as good nutrition during
this period reduces morbidity and mortality, lowers the risk of chronic disease, and
encourages better overall development.
Complementary feeding is a critical timeframe for an infant to establish healthy
eating behaviors.
The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of nurses working in wellbaby
clinics in Kafr El Dawar concerning complementary feeding for infants.
The study was conducted at three Maternal and Child Health centers and 37 Family
Health Units in Kafr El Dawar City. The study included 260 nurses working in well-baby
clinic. The study was fulfilled through across-sectional approach.
Two techniques were applied in collecting the required information: a selfadministered
structured questionnaire and observational checklist for practices.
The questionnaire sheet consists of two parts:- Part (1): It contains elements related
to socio-demographic features of the nurses such as: age, marital status, educational level,
years of experience in the well-baby clinic, type of training on complementary feeding
practices, and place of work in units.
Part (2): It includes data about the nurses’ knowledge and practices regarding
complementary feeding. An observational checklist assessed the practices expected to be
performed by the nurses while educating the mothers about complementary feeding in the
well-baby clinics.
The study revealed the following results:
The mean age of the studied sample of nurses was 43.93 ±7.858 years
Majority of the nurses (88.5%) were married and have children.
The years of experience ranged from 2-17 years with a mean of 14.63 ± 4.68 years.
More than half (56.2%) of nurses had average level of knowledge, while 43.1% of
them had good level of knowledge. Those with poor level of knowledge presented
only 0.8% of nurses, with mean knowledge score 29.29 ±7.94.
Concerning education, it was noticed that about three- quarters (73.5%) of them
graduated from Secondary School of Nursing.
Only 17.7% of the studied nurses had received training about complementary feeding
and that training was in the last 3 years and more ago. The highest percentage of nurses (81.5%) mentioned health team as the source of
their information.
Only 46.9% and about two thirds (62.3%) of the nurses stated correct answers about
definition of exclusive breast feeding and its duration.
About half of them (51.9%) stated correct complete answers about definition of
complementary feeding.
Most nurses (90.8%) reported correct complete answers about the ideal infant age at
introduction of complementary food.
Minority of them (5.0%) reported correct complete answers about type of food to be
given at initiation of complementary feeding.
About half of nurses (51.9%) reported correct complete answers about meal
frequency at initiation of complementary feeding.
About one third (36.5%) reported correct complete answers about the meal
frequency age of 9 - 23 months.
More than three quarters of them (88.1%) reported correct complete answers about
the way the food is given.
The great proportion (93.5%) and a nearly half (50.4%) of the studied sample stated
incorrect or don‘t know answers regarding food consistency for infant6-<9 months
and for infant ≥9 months.
Nearly one third (30.0%) of the studied sample reported correct complete answers
about spacing of introduction of a new food.
68.1% and 70.4% reported correct complete answers about age at introduction of
milk and milk products and family food, respectively.
About half of the studied sample (51.9%) reported correct complete answers about
age at introduction of honey.
Meanwhile about three quarters (76.9% and 71.2%) of the nurses stated incorrect or
don‘t know answers about age at introduction of meat and fish, respectively.
Nearly half (48.1%) of sample stated incorrect or don‘t know answers about foods
which are not allowed before two years of age while only10.8% stated correct
incomplete answers.
Concerning feeding the infant during illness, about three quarters of nurses (75.4%)
gave incorrect or don‘t know answers.
Concerning dietary iron sources, nearly all the studied sample (97.3%) stated correct
incomplete answers.
The majority (90.4%) stated correct incomplete answers about dietary calcium sources.
About half (51.2%) of them sample stated correct complete answers about vitamin D
sources.
About half (55.4%) of nurses had poor practice, while 44.6% of them had average
level of practices and none of them had good level of practice, with mean score18.90± 6.52. All nurses (100%) didn‘t explain infant’s diet during and after illness.
Communication techniques according to level of mother understand and audiovisual
materials were not used by all nurses (100%) by observation.
All (100.0%) of the studied sample had poor practice by observation.
The difference between levels of knowledge in relation to age group was found to be
statistically significant (p <0.05).
The difference between levels of knowledge in relation to marital status was
statistically significant (p< 0.05).
The difference between levels of knowledge in relation to level of education was not
statistically significant (p>0.05).
The difference between levels of knowledge in relation to years of experience since
graduation was not statistically significant (p>0.05).
The difference between levels of practices in relation to age was not statistically
significant (p>0.05).
The difference between levels of knowledge in relation to reported practices was not
statistically significant (p>0.05).
The nurses age and marital status were the variables that found to be predictor of the
nurses’ knowledge (p<0.05).
As regards practices, it was found that previous training about complementary
feeding was a predictor of the nurse’s practice level (p=0.048).
Based on the previous finding the study recommended that:
Educational training program should be conduct on complementary feeding.
Provide sufficient resources to conduct training programs.
Audiovisual aids should be available in all health units and centers as they are
needed in health education session and nurses should be trained on their use.
Community discussions, CME (Continuous Medical Education) activities, and job
hops on IYCF (Infant and Young Child Feeding) procedures all help health care
practitioners develop their awareness.
Medical and nursing students participate actively in counselling sessions in
antenatal outpatient units, postnatal wards, and well baby clinics.
Continuous supervision and evaluation of nurses’ performance related to health education of mothers regarding complementary feeding. Further studies are highly needed to evaluate nurses’ knowledge and practices regarding complementary feeding in other health units and in other governorates.