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Behaviour change communication to improve complementary feeding practices in Ethiopia: Couples' beliefs concerning paternal involvement in childcare.
- Source :
- Maternal & Child Nutrition; Apr2024, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p1-12, 12p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- An important cause of stunting is limited consumption of complementary foods, in terms of both quantities and nutrients. Although existing studies show a positive association between fathers' engagement and children's diet, programmes designed to improve complementary feeding practices often only target mothers. In response to this, maternal behaviour change communication (BCC), paternal BCC and food voucher programmes were designed and implemented in Ethiopia using a clustered randomized controlled trial design. The paternal BCC programme included gender‐equal messages to increase fathers' participation in childcare, household labour and decision making. The research reported in this paper is an examination of the BCC programmes, characterizing the behavioural, normative and control beliefs of both mothers and fathers in BCC households compared to those in control households. In this study, a total of 40 participants were included, with 13 mother–father pairs in the BCC + food voucher group, and seven pairs in the control group. Each participant was interviewed separately. We found that BCC mothers showed more gender‐equal tendencies than the control mothers despite being more rural in location. By contrast, the beliefs of BCC and control fathers were similar overall, suggesting men are more resistant to gender‐equal BCC. More work is needed to develop and test effective methods for changing fathers' beliefs and practices. Key messages: Mothers in behaviour change communication (BCC) group mothers held more gender‐equal beliefs than control mothers, while BCC and control fathers shared similar views, suggesting a male resistance to gender equality.Mothers found fathers' involvement in childcare socially acceptable but often perceived them as inexperienced, which limited their participation.Control mothers' traditional view on household chores maintained the conventional labour division, influencing fathers' involvement.Fathers typically resisted maternal control of resources; however, they agreed that the more knowledgeable should lead decision‐making. BCC mothers showed greater confidence in making household decisions as effectively as fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- BREASTFEEDING
INFANTS
INTELLECT
GENDER role
FATHERHOOD
HEALTH attitudes
HUMAN services programs
CLUSTER analysis (Statistics)
PSYCHOLOGY of fathers
FOOD consumption
COMPUTER software
RESEARCH funding
SPOUSES
FOOD security
STATISTICAL sampling
INTERVIEWING
CHILD health services
MOTHERS
BEHAVIOR
PARENTING
NUTRITIONAL requirements
RANDOMIZED controlled trials
CHILD nutrition
DECISION making
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
LONGITUDINAL method
GENDER inequality
COMMUNICATION
RESEARCH methodology
CHILD rearing
ARTIFICIAL feeding
CHILD care
SOCIAL support
MOTHERHOOD
COMPARATIVE studies
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17408695
- Volume :
- 20
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Maternal & Child Nutrition
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176335213
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13628