Association of body mass index with dietary intake and self-care health activities of mothers after postpartum: A mixed-method research in Chennai City, India

Background: Overweight and obesity have become serious health problems worldwide, with more than 1.5 billion adults classified as overweight according to the World Health Organization in 2020. Getting overweight after the gestational period is a common phenomenon and getting back to prepregnancy weight is a major challenging concern for mothers. This study aimed to explain the importance of maintaining body mass index (BMI) and evaluate the association of BMI with dietary intake and self-care health behaviors among mothers after the postpartum period. Methods: A mixed-method study was conducted among mothers after the postpartum period having children aged 2 to 10 years old. The current study was performed on a total of 17 mothers who were referred to comprehensive health service centers in Chennai city, Tamil Nadu, India. They were purposefully selected according to the inclusion criteria. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and analyzed using SPSS software for testing the significance of the P value. Results: The majority of mothers (88.23%) were in the category of overweight and obese. The mean age of mothers was 26.53 ± 5.21 years. BMI was strongly associated with the dietary intake of mothers, hindrance in dietary intake of mothers, and self-care activities of mothers since the P-value was <0.01 level of significance. Conclusion: This study reveals that the BMI of mothers has increased compared to prepregnancy. The adherence to the balanced dietary and self-care activity was very low. It is critically important to pay more attention to how individual, organizational, and societal interventions might assist mothers in attaining the target level of BMI.