How to cite this article: Mallesh V, Patil SS. Effectiveness of Nutrition Education as Intervention on Complementary Feeding Practices & Growth of Children in Rural Area. Natl J Community Med 2024;15(5):379-388. DOI: 10.55489/njcm.150520243817 Copy Right: The Authors retain the copyrights of this article, with first publication rights granted to Medsci Publications. This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given, and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. www.njcmindia.com│pISSN: 0976-3325│eISSN: 2229-6816│Published by Medsci Publications @2024 National Journal of Community Medicine│Volume 15│Issue 05│May 2024 Page 379 ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Effectiveness of Nutrition Education as Intervention on Complementary Feeding Practices & Growth of Children in Rural Area Vidya Mallesh 1* , Shailaja S Patil 2 1 Chikkamagaluru institute of medical science, Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka, India 2 BLDE (Deemed to be university) Shri BM Patil Medical college Hospital & Research Center Vijayapura, India DOI: 10.55489/njcm.150520243817 A B S T R A C T Background: The first 2years of a child's, feeding-pattern is an important determinant of childhood-malnutri- tion. Nutritional education on complementary feeding was provided, and the impact on Minimum-Meal-Diver- sity [MMD], Minimum-Meal-Frequency [MMF] & the children's growth, was evaluated & compared between the education-intervention group and the control group. Methodology: The study was conducted in 2villages of Vijayapura-district 5Anganwadi from each village was selected for study and compared. Primary-outcome: improvement in MMD, MMF Secondary-outcome: weight for age Z-score [WAZ], weight for age Z-score [HAZ] &mid-arm-circumference. Results: Overall education-intervention-group showed better weight-gain than control-arm significant-differ- ence was observed in WAZi.e1.36 v/s1 (p<0.0017*) & HAZ-3.82 v/s -4 (p<0.00078*) respectively. In Interven- tion-arm mothers following MMF significantly increased &was statistically significant. There was a significant rise in the percentage of mothers in the intervention group who adopted MMD for their children. (p<0.0001*). Gender differences in mean WAZ scores &HAZ were observed in both groups persistently throughout the study period & were statistically significant. Conclusion: Program interventions need to understand the local practices &needs of mothers & tailor inter- ventions and nutritional education to improve child feeding practices including hygienic practices with regular follow-ups, is vital to prevent the vicious cycle of malnutrition. Key word: Educational intervention, nutritional education, complementary-feeding A R T I C L E I N F O Financial Support: None declared Conflict of Interest: None declared Received: 12-02-2024, Accepted: 18-04-2024, Published: 01-05-2024 *Correspondence: Dr. Vidya Mallesh (Email: vidyamallesh20@gmail.com)