Knowledge and Attitude on Growth Monitoring and its Associated Factors among Mothers/Guardians of Children Less than Two Years in Areka Town, Southern Ethiopia, 2017

Introduction: Growth Monitoring is the process of following and assessing the growth rate of a child in comparison to a standard by, periodic, frequent anthropometric measurements. Only a few have been said and researched about the maternal knowledge and attitude towards growth monitoring and its associated factors in Ethiopia as well globally. Therefore, this study was conducted to fill the observed gap. Methods: Community based cross sectional study was conducted in Areka town, from June 2 to June 12, 2017 sample size was 369 (p=0.53) after correction and proportional sample size allocation is used to allocate the sample to the 4 Kebeles and Systematic random sampling was used to select households. Data was collected using semistructured questioners by interview and the obtained data was analysed using SPSS v.24.0 statistical software. Statistical significance was declared at P-value of 0.25 for bivariate and 0.05 for multivariable logistic regressions. Results: On this study 53% of mothers were found to have poor knowledge and 42.6% of mothers had poor attitude. This study also found educational status of mothers; occupational status and adequate counselling and education from health professionals are associated with knowledge on growth monitoring. Poor knowledge and adequate counselling and education from health professionals were significantly associated with attitude towards growth monitoring. Conclusion and Recommendation: Mothers have relatively good attitude than knowledge. Formal education, counselling and education from health professionals and a formal occupation had a positive impact on knowledge and attitude towards growth monitoring. The knowledge status of the mothers was found to be low.