EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNITY BASED NUTRITIONAL PROGRAMME (CBNP) ON PREVENTION OF STUNTED GROWTH AMONG CHILDREN IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPRESSED PRACTICES OF MOTHERS IN SELECTED VILLAGES OF AMBALA DISTRICT

Stunting, or being too short for one?s age, can cause physical, mental distress. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of CBNP in terms of knowledge and expressed practice of mothers. A Quasi experimental pretest posttest design was used. Forty mothers were selected using purposive sampling technique. Structured Knowledge Questionnaire was used to assess knowledge and structured expressed practices rating scale was used to assess expressed practices of mothers. The study showed that mean posttest knowledge (14.2) and expressed practice score was (59.5) was higher than mean pretest knowledge (7.16) and expressed score was (49.3) respectively. There was significant association of pretest knowledge score with socioeconomic status and ?ever taken any food preparing advice? and for expressed practices score with mother?s education, occupation at 0.05 level of significance. The study concluded that CBNP can be used for improving the knowledge and expressed practices of mothers on prevention of stunted growth among children.