A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Protein Energy Malnutrition among Mothers of Under-Five Children in a Selected Rural Community in Kodoli

Background: Better nutrition is a prime entry point to ending the malnutrition maelstrom. Better health means stronger immune systems which mean less illness. Healthy people feel stronger, can work better and may have more earning opportunities to gradually lift them out of both poverty and malnutrition. Healthier, more productive societies are a potential outcome. Protein energy malnutrition has been identified as one of the major nutritional problem among children in India. Since mothers were the primary care takers of children, if they possess adequate knowledge on food and nutrition of children, they can be prevented from protein energy malnutrition. The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding Protein energy malnutrition among mothers of under-five children in a selected rural community in Kodoli. Objectives: 1) To determine the pre-test level of knowledge of mothers of under-five children regarding protein energy malnutrition. 2) To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding protein energy malnutrition among mothers of under-five children. 3) To find the association between mean pre-test knowledge score and selected demographic variables. Methodology: A pre-experimental one group pre-test ? post-test design was used for the study. The sample consisted of 30 subjects. Mothers of under-five children were selected by purposive sampling technique. The study was conducted in a rural area at Kodoli from 1-08-2018 to 30-08-2019. The investigator obtained written permission from concerned authority prior to the study and written consent was obtained from mothers and assured confidentiality of information. Data was collected by structured interview schedule. After the pre-test a PTP was administered to the subjects and on the seventh day post-test was conducted with the same questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: In the pre-test none of the mothers had good knowledge 60% had poor knowledge and 40% had average knowledge whereas in the post-test 33.3% had good knowledge and 66.7% had average knowledge. The mean post test knowledge scores obtained by subjects (13.86) was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score (9.1). Paired ?t? test was done to find out the difference between the mean pre-test and post test knowledge score and statistically it was highly significant (t=9.69, pless than0.05). There was no significant association between the mean pre-test knowledge score and the selected variables like age of mother in years (?2=0.008) educational status of mother (?2=0.027) family income/month (?2=0.165) number of children (?2=0.128) religion (?2=0.212) type of family (?2 = 0.0382). Conclusion: PTP was an effective strategy for providing information and to improve knowledge of mothers which was well appreciated and accepted by mothers.