Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre alimentación complementaria de los/as cuidadores/as de pacientes atendidos en consulta externa del Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, Cuenca, 2018

Abstract

Background: the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) affirm that breastfeeding and complementary feeding are two fundamental pillars in life, growth, and development of children. They also reduce infant mortality rates, gastrointestinal infections, risk of malnutrition, and prevent allergic and celiac diseases. General objective: to identify the knowledge, the attitudes, and the practices on complementary feeding of the caregivers of patients that attended the medical consultation at the Hospital "Vicente Corral Moscoso". Methodology: is a cross-sectional descriptive study, with a sample of 297 caregivers of children from 6 months to 2 years that attended to the Hospital “Vicente Corral Moscoso” (HVCM), whose selection was made by systematic random sampling using the program Epidat 4.2. The form that was used was adapted from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). With the obtained data, frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation were obtained; represented in tables. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 15.0. Results: the knowledge in complementary feeding observed in the participants of this study was generally adequate (73%), the attitudes in feeding practices were correct in 81%; however, when reviewing the practices, only 49.3% provided the recommended diet.

Conclusions: the caregivers have adequate knowledge and attitudes, but when it comes to putting in practice, inadequate feeding was observed.