Comparison of Behavior Change between Control and Experimental Group on Food Safety Issues to Prevent Diarrhoea

Food Safety Issues to Prevent Diarrhoea

Abstract

Proper hygiene feeding practices of mothers can contribute to the prevention of diarrhoea in infants and children, which is mentioned in research work done by various countries.

Objective: To compare behavior change between control and experimental group on food safety issues to prevent diarrhea.

Methods: This interventional study was done on mothers and children (0-3 years) living in Lahore belonging to low socio-economic class (Manowal Village near Choong, Lahore, Pakistan). Study population consisted of sixty mothers of infants and young children, thirty mothers of infants were taken as control group and intervention was carried out on the remaining thirty mothers. A paired sample T-Test was applied to compare the pre-test and post test mean percentages of food hygiene/safety issues carried out on experimental group and the control group. A pre-test before doing intervention and a post test after an intervention was carried out on targeted group of individuals. Development of nutrition education messages related to food hygiene was done in phase 1 while delivery and assessment of food hygiene practices in phase 2.

Results: The post testing mean scores of majority of the food hygiene/safety issues in the experimental group were observed to be higher than the post testing scores of the control group.

Conclusions: Nutrition education on diarrhoea showed a remarkable difference in the post testing scores of knowledge and practices related to food hygiene/safety issues in the intervention group.