Peer-reviewed article
Maternal Knowledge of Stunting in Rural Indonesia
Cougar Hall, Cudjoe Bennett, Benjamin Crookston, Kirk Dearden, Muhamad Hasan et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This study asked 3,150 mothers in rural Indonesia, in face-to-face interviews, what they know about stunting. Very few mothers, 66 or 2.1%, had heard of or knew something about stunting. About two-thirds of mothers believed stunting is caused by hereditary factors. The health effects mothers named most often were interrupted growth, idiocy and getting sick easily. The authors conclude that health promotion and education are needed to build basic knowledge of stunting among mothers.
Key points
- 3,150 mothers took part in structured face-to-face interviews.
- Only 66 mothers (2.1%) had heard of, read about, or knew something about stunting.
- Approximately two-thirds of participants attributed stunting to hereditary factors.
- Health effects named were interrupted growth (33.7%), idiocy (13.8%) and easy to get sick (11.8%).
- Results point to a need for health promotion and education on stunting, its causes and its effects.
Limitations
The abstract describes a survey of mothers' knowledge only, so it cannot tell us how knowledge relates to child growth or feeding behaviour, or whether any education effort works. It gives no detail on how the sample was chosen or which regions were covered.
Abstract
Child undernutrition and stunting remain serious public health problems in Indonesia. According to the Health Belief Model, increasing mothers’ knowledge of stunting is fundamental to establishing accurate threat perceptions predictive of behavior change. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of factors related to maternal knowledge of stunting in Indonesia by addressing three questions: 1) How familiar with stunting are Indonesian mothers? 2) What antecedent factors do Indonesian mothers associate with stunting? and 3) What health effects do Indonesian mothers associate with stunting? A total of 3,150 mothers participated in structured face-to-face interviews. Study measures targeted four main variables. Mothers were asked: 1) Have you heard of stunting?; 2) Have you heard of shortness?; 3) What causes stunting/shortness?; and 4) What are the effects of stunting? Only 66 (2.1%) mothers reported having heard of, read about, or knew something about stunting. Approximately two-thirds of participants attributed stunting to hereditary factors. Interrupted growth (33.7%), idiocy (13.8%), and easy to get sick (11.8%) were identified as health effects of stunting. Results highlight the need for health promotion and education efforts focused on increasing basic knowledge of stunting, its causes, and its health effects among Indonesian mothers