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The aim of the present study was to examine the perceived healthiness of breakfasts and the underlying beliefs influencing that perception against expert nutritional evaluation. Women with overweight or obesity (N = 120) were asked to recall the food items they consumed during a recent “healthy” or “unhealthy” breakfast. They also reported why the breakfast was healthy or unhealthy and rated its healthiness. Two nutritionists categorised the beliefs about why the breakfasts were “healthy” or “unhealthy” and evaluated the healthiness of each breakfast following nutrition guidelines. Generally, the meals considered as healthy versus unhealthy breakfasts and related beliefs about why the breakfasts were healthy or unhealthy matched food-based nutrition guidelines. Participants were found to perceive healthy breakfasts as more healthy and unhealthy breakfasts as less healthy than nutritionists did. Participants frequently mentioned the belief that their breakfast was healthy because “it contained fruit” or that their breakfast was unhealthy because “it contained fat.” Such salient healthy or unhealthy food items may guide the perception of breakfast healthiness and could be a target for nutrition counselling.

Objective: The WHO and UNICEF recommend home visits to improve health outcomes for mothers and newborns. We evaluated the effect of home visits by community volunteers during pregnancy and postpartum on breast-feeding practices, women's knowledge about benefits, beliefs and myths of breast-feeding, obstetric and neonatal warning signs, preparation for childbirth and initial care for newborns, and diarrhoea and respiratory diseases in children.Design: Community quasi-experimental design. We estimated difference-in-difference models with fixed effects at the community level weighted by propensity score and investigated implementation barriers through focus groups and semi-structured interviews.Setting: Poor rural communities in Mexico; 48 intervention and 29 control.Participants: Baseline and follow-up information were reported from two independent cross-sectional samples of women with babies aged between 6 and 18 months (baseline: 292 control, 320 intervention; follow-up: 292 control, 294 intervention).Results: The intervention increased reports of exclusive breast-feeding in the first 6 months by 24·4 percentage points (pp) (95 % CI: 13·4, 35·4), mothers' knowledge of obstetric warning signs by 23·4 pp (95 % CI: 9·2, 37·5) and neonatal warning signs by 26·2 pp (95 % CI: 15·2, 37·2) compared to the control group. A non-linear dose-response relation with the number of home visits was found. Diarrhoea and respiratory diseases among children decreased in the intervention v. control group but were not statistically significant.Conclusions: Home visits should be implemented as a complementary strategy to the provision of prenatal and postnatal care in rural communities due to their potential positive effects on the health of mothers and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resumen: Objetivo: Indagar la vinculación entre expresiones del empoderamiento (autonomía y poder de decisión) y las prácticas de autocuidado y de búsqueda de atención durante el embarazo y posterior al parto, en relación con la mortalidad materna, en mujeres indígenas del municipio de Santa María Temaxcaltepec, Oaxaca, México. Métodos: se realizaron seis grupos focales: dos con mujeres embarazadas; dos con madres de niños <3 años de edad, y dos con hombres quienes en los últimos tres años fueron padres. Resultados: la hegemonía masculina en el contexto familiar y en las instituciones de salud, dificulta la autonomía y el poder de decisión de las mujeres sobre su salud reproductiva. Esto impacta directamente en la búsqueda de atención durante el embarazo y el parto. Conclusiones: la falta de autonomía y de poder de decisión femenino se relaciona indirectamente, con resultados adversos del embarazo. Estos hallazgos son útiles para orientar el diseño de estrategias que promuevan el empoderamiento de las mujeres y la equidad de género en el contexto de los servicios y programas comunitarios y llamar la atención de tomadores de decisiones hacia la presencia, de factores no-médicos de la muerte materna en comunidades indígenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Salud Mental is the property of Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatria Ramon de la Fuente and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction Childhood obesity has been associated with the intake of energy-dense foods and sedentary lifestyle, and with mental health indicators such as anxiety and perception of body image. In Mexico it has not been studied the relationship between these variables in children. Objective To assess the body self-perception and risk of anxiety according to the presence of children with normal weight for their stature and age (BMI) and children with overweight/obese, controlling for dietary variables and health habits in children of school age. Method 259 boys and girls with normal BMI vs. 326 with overweight/obesity from three public schools in the State of Mexico were evaluated. Diet and lifestyle were associated with the presence of anxiety and body-image dissatisfaction. BMI was calculated from direct measures of weight and height. For anxiety assessment the CMAS-R questionnaire was used and test-SC for body image self-perception. Results 43% of school children showed cardiovascular risk and 7.7% metabolic syndrome risk. Children with normal weight have greater satisfaction with their body image and weight, compared to children with overweight or obesity (68.3% vs. 49.1%). Discussion and conclusion There were no differences in anxiety according to BM1. The self-perception of body image is less favorable in specific areas of the body, in children with overweight or obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To define and explore the sociocultural factors that could enhance (facilitators) or interfere with (barriers) the adequate consumption of a nutritional supplement (NS) by children from 6 to 59 months of age, provided as part of the national program Oportunidades., Material and Methods: Qualitative study in rural communities of Chiapas and Veracruz. Forty-four semi-structured interviews and 25 focus groups were conducted with mothers and other key informants. The framework analysis approach was used., Results: Facilitators. The NS is free, is highly accessible, is positively accepted and mothers believe the physicians recommendations. Barriers. Lack of adequate storage and distribution, poverty conditions, intrahousehold dilution (within the family members), beliefs regarding child feeding and the purpose of the NS., Conclusion: Results shows the incongruence between the Programs recommendations and the preferences and practices of the target population and provides important elements to be considered in the promotion of the NS .

Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore the network that the social actors form around the mother with a neonate and the roles they play, either as support or as an obstacle of exclusive breast-feeding., Material and Methods: We applied a social network survey in two stages: in the first one, we asked mothers with babies under six months of age who had helped them breast-feed their babies and who had had a bearing on not letting them do it. Later, we asked other mothers who had told them to give formula, water, tea or solid food to the babies. With the answers we formed two "cases by actors" matrices. We computed the frequencies to find out those people that most influenced the mother for and against exclusive breast-feeding. We also graphed the results from the matrix to visualize the answers., Results: The maternal grandmother of the child, the physician and the paternal grandmother appeared as those who most positively contributed with exclusive breast-feeding. Paradoxically, they are the same who most influenced its interruption., Discussion: We were looking for a social network to support exclusive breast-feeding and another one to hinder it, but the two networks turned out to be very similar. The same characters who help a mother to breast-feed are the ones who make her stop. The implication for an intervention program is that it is necessary to strengthen some knowledge and inhibit some other within the same group of people.