Enhancing Maternal Behavior Towards Prevention of Stunting among Children Below 5 Years Old in the District of Tebing Tinggi Indonesia

Background: Stunting is a condition of chronic malnutrition that affects the growth and development of a child from an early stage. This study determined the enhanced maternal behavior towards the prevention of stunting among children below 5 years old. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive-correlational quantitative design was utilized for this study. Data was collected from June to December 2021 at Tebing Tinggi, South Sumatera Kalimantan. The purposive sampling technique with inclusion and exclusion criteria helped to select the 150 mothers as respondents to answer the survey questionnaire. This research was specifically conducted at the High Cliff Health Center using a self-administered online questionnaire. Results: The identified enhanced maternal behaviors related to the prior behaviors of the respondents (53.52 ± 13.89349, 113%). On the contrary, the perceived benefits (9.8067 ± 3.05, 24.93%), perceived barrier to action (53.52 ± 15.33987, 25.25%), preventive behavior (8.02 ± 2.25831, 18.439%) were identified to be insignificant. There was a relationship (r ≤0.05) between the prior related behavior, perceived benefits, perceived barriers to action, and preventive behavior. Conclusion: It was determined that there was still a need to enhance some of the maternal behaviors towards the prevention of stunting among children under 5 years of age.