Design and application of a nutrition education program based on a test of improved practices for pregnant women and women of childbearing age in La Rinconada and Cuambo

• Main Author: Nicaragua, Odila
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2003
• Subjects: Pregnant women > Ecuador > Health and hygiene; Pregnancy > Nutritional aspects > Ecuador; Mothers > Nutrition > Ecuador; Educational Methods; Health and Physical Education; Life Sciences; Sociology
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5407; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6406&context=etd

This study was done with the objective of designing and applying a nutrition education program based on a test of improved practices for pregnant women and women of childbearing age in the rural communities of Ibarra canton: La Riconada and Cuambo. For this, information was collected on knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding the eating habits of pregnant women. These results were used to identify content and recommendations to reinforce and/or instruct about eating during pregnancy. Nutrition education was based on the methodology of the improved practices test, which consisted of testing the recommendations in families' homes before recommending them and recording information on their acceptability. The results indicate that pregnant women in the two communities don't eat all the food groups every day. They need to increase the consumption of foods rich in calcium and iron, as well as foods that supply energy, protein, and fats. The pregnant women don't eat additional foods to cover these recommendations during the pregnancy. Despite the knowledge they have and the lessons they received, there are women who don't eat greens, vegetables, and fruits because they don't like them, and those who do eat them don't meet the established nutritional recommendations. The women prefer to eat artificial drinks with unboiled water, and they do not look after personal hygiene. The test of improved practices has been useful for observing if they really put in practice the knowledge about eating during pregnancy, and at the same time it helped design the educational proposal that served as a guide to help improve eating practices of pregnant women in the two rural communities, considering their motivations and recommendations.