Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on the Knowledge Regarding Weaning among the Mothers in Selected Community of Kamrup (M), Assam

Like stars are to the sky, so are the children to our world. They deserve to shineǃIn the first year of life, infants undergo periods of rapid growth and at that time good nutrition is crucial. Breast milk is the ideal food for infants during first six months of life. But after the six months of life, breast milk cannot provide all of the nutrients and calories that allow infants to thrive. Other more nutritious foods should be added by the time, to fulfill the nutritional demand of infant. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study is to assess the Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on the Knowledge regarding Weaning among the Mothers in selected Community of Kamrup (M), Assam. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quantitative research approach was adopted. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select 4 villages from Guwahati, Assam and Pre-experimental one group pre-test post-test research design was used to collect data from 133 mothers. Structured self administered knowledge questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge. RESULTS: Findings revealed that, in pre-test majority 64.66% of the mothers had moderate knowledge, 23.31% had moderately adequate knowledge and 12.03% had inadequate knowledge. For post-test majority 50.37% had moderate knowledge, 43.61% had moderately adequate knowledge and 6.02% had inadequate knowledge. In pre-test mean SD score was 14.90±3.04 and post-test mean SD score was 21.56±1.67 with mean difference of 6.67. Therefore, it shows that there is significant difference between pre-test and post-test level of knowledge regarding weaning. Findings also showed that there was significant association between the pre-test knowledge score with selected demographic variables such as age and occupation. CONCLUSION: Keeping in view the findings of the study, it can be revealed that structured teaching programme on weaning was effective in improving the knowledge of weaning mothers.