Barriers to Infant and Child-feeding Practices: A Qualitative Study of Primary Caregivers in Rural Uganda

Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (JHPN)

K. Muliira, Joshua¹  Nankumbi, Joyce¹ 

关键词: Feeding practices;    Infant-feeding;    Malnutrition;    Primary caregivers;    Qualitative methods;    Ruralarea;    Uganda;   

DOI  :  10.3329/jhpn.v33i1.3200

来源: International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B)

【 摘 要 】

The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers to the use of appropriate infant and young childfeedingpractices by primary caregivers living in a rural Ugandan district. A community-based qualitativedesign and focus group discussions were used for collecting data from primary caregivers of children aged0 to 24 month(s). On an average, each of the four focus group discussions had 11 participants. The focusgroup discussions were conducted using a structured interview guide and were tape-recorded. The recordeddata were later transcribed and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis techniques. All the participantswere females, and the majority had low levels of education and at least one child in the age-group of 0-24month(s) in their household. The findings show that the main barriers to the use of appropriate infant andyoung child-feeding practices fall under four themes: caregiver’s knowledge about breastfeeding, caregiver’sknowledge about complimentary feeding, influence of culture custodians on the caregivers, and patternsand burden of other responsibilities the caregivers have in the household. The four categories of barriersimply that there are various missed opportunities to implement hospital and community-based interventionsto improve infant and young child-feeding practices, which is one way of preventing malnutrition.Therefore, in rural areas of Uganda, the major factors responsible for the high prevalence of malnutritionamong infants and children are still those related to knowledge, culture, and social status of the primarycaregivers. Key words: Feeding practices; Infant-feeding; Malnutrition; Primary caregivers; Qualitative methods; Ruralarea; Uganda

【 授权许可】

Unknown