Peer-reviewed article
Driving and Inhibiting Factors of Stunting Child Care Behavior in Padang Lawas District
Nur Amri Sari Harahap, Kintoko Rochadi, Zulhaida Lubis ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study explored factors that influence how mothers care for children at risk of stunting in three health centers in Padang Lawas District, Indonesia. Researchers interviewed ten participants including mothers, community leaders, and health officials between July 2022 and January 2023. Most mothers understood good nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, and appropriate complementary feeding practices. The study found that positive parenting behaviors were driven by mothers' knowledge, access to information, and support from health workers, while negative behaviors were hindered by lack of these factors.
Key points
- Most mothers had good knowledge about exclusive breastfeeding, its benefits, and appropriate timing for complementary foods
- Three main driving factors support positive stunting-prevention behavior: maternal knowledge, access to information, and health worker support
- Positive parenting behavior occurs when driving forces are present; negative behavior results from restraining forces that prevent healthy practices
- The study recommends health centers provide education on exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate complementary foods for young children
- Cross-sectoral collaboration is needed to prevent stunting through behavior change in child nutrition
Limitations
This qualitative study with only ten participants cannot determine the prevalence of knowledge or behaviors across the population, nor can it establish causal relationships between the identified factors and actual stunting outcomes. The findings describe factors mothers and leaders report as important but do not measure whether these factors actually reduce stunting rates.
Abstract
One of the nutritional problems experienced by children in Indonesia is stunting. Stunting itself is a condition of poor child growth and development. The researcher aims to explore the driving factors and inhibitors of stunting parenting behavior in Padang Lawas Regency. The type of research used in the study was qualitative research with a descriptive phenomenological approach. This research was conducted at three health centers: Sibuhuan Health Center, Tanjung Botung Health Center, and Ujung Batu Health Center in July 2022-January 2023. In this study, the number of participants was ten people consisting of mothers, community leaders, and regional heads. The data analysis in this study was carried out by content analysis immediately after each interview process, namely at the same time as the data transcript was made. The results of interviews about mothers' knowledge in fulfilling children's nutrition found that the majority of mothers have good knowledge in fulfilling nutrition in general, where mothers know about the definition of exclusive breast milk and its benefits, know the right time to give complementary foods for breast milk and the types of foods that must be present in the child's plate in fulfilling their nutrition. This study concludes that positive parenting behavior occurs when there is a driving force for positive behavior; the driving factors found in this study are knowledge, access to information, and support from health workers. At the same time, the mother's parenting behavior is negative if there are restraining forces that prevent her from positive behavior. It is recommended to the Ujung Batu, Tanjung Botung and Sibuhuan Community Health Centers to provide health education on exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate complementary foods for toddlers and to collaborate with cross-sectors in preventing stunting through changing behavior in fulfilling child nutrition. Keyword: Breast Milk, Behavior, Complementary Foods, Parenting, Stunting