Increasing the Level of Knowledge about Stunting and the First 1000 Days of Life in Jember Regency, East Java, Indonesia

Stunting is a developmental disorder experienced by children due to poor nutrition, recurrent infections, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. In Jember Regency, the number of stunting cases increased from 2018 to 2019. In addition, restrictions on activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as nutrition services at Integrated Healthcare Center, can hamper access to consumption and nutrition and child health services. Therefore, education about stunting is urgently needed to implement appropriate parenting patterns in the mids of limited activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Jember community service program was carried out online in the form of a webinar activity that was attended by 30 participants. This study is a quantitative analytic research using a one-group pretest-posttest design. Data that have been analyzed are presented descriptively. There is a significant effect on the pretest and posttest scores in the webinar. It means an increase in participants' understanding after online education is carried out. It is hoped that the people of Jember Regency can apply knowledge about the importance of the first 1000 days of life to prevent stunting.

Parenting in Bangladesh: A Review of the Literature from 2006 to 2018

This study was a point of departure for future research on the need for a coherent understanding and knowledge of parenting in Bangladesh. This article presents the findings from an integrative research review on parenting in Bangladesh. A comprehensive search conducted in PubMed, Science Direct, and PsychINFO using the keywords “parenting”, “childcare”, “motherhood”, “fatherhood”, “mothering”, “fathering”, each paired with “Bangladesh” yielded 246 articles. Twenty papers published between 2006 and 2018 were selected for thematic analysis based on pre-set criteria. In most studies, the term mother was used interchangeably with parent, with mothers regarded as the primary caregiver. Parenting in the Bangladeshi context was found to be conceptualized primarily in terms of attitudes, disciplinary practices, feeding, parent–child interaction, and psychosocial stimulation. Parenting components aimed at moral development and attachment building in children were underrepresented. The data revealed largely inconsistent and uncoordinated discussions of parental practices, demonstrating the lack of a holistic approach in the literature in Bangladesh. Research on parenting in Bangladesh favors gendered assumptions of females as the primary caregiver. Based on their findings, the authors recommend qualitative studies to better reflect and conceptualize the concept of parenting in Bangladesh.

Effectiveness of cash-plus programmes on early childhood outcomes compared to cash transfers alone: A systematic review and meta-analysis in low- and middle-income countries

Background To strengthen the impact of cash transfers, these interventions have begun to be packaged as cash-plus programmes, combining cash with additional transfers, interventions, or services. The intervention’s complementary (“plus”) components aim to improve cash transfer effectiveness by targeting mediating outcomes or the availability of supplies or services. This study examined whether cash-plus interventions for infants and children <5 are more effective than cash alone in improving health and well-being. Methods and findings Forty-two databases, donor agencies, grey literature sources, and trial registries were systematically searched, yielding 5,097 unique articles (as of 06 April 2021). Randomised and quasi-experimental studies were eligible for inclusion if the intervention package aimed to improve outcomes for children <5 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and combined a cash transfer with an intervention targeted to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 (No Hunger), SDG3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG4 (Education), or SDG16 (Violence Prevention), had at least one group receiving cash-only, examined outcomes related to child-focused SDGs, and was published in English. Risk of bias was appraised using Cochrane Risk of Bias and ROBINS-I Tools. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted for a cash-plus intervention category when there were at least 3 trials with the same outcome. The review was preregistered with PROSPERO (CRD42018108017). Seventeen studies were included in the review and 11 meta-analysed. Most interventions operated during the first 1,000 days of the child’s life and were conducted in communities facing high rates of poverty and often, food insecurity. Evidence was found for 10 LMICs, where most researchers used randomised, longitudinal study designs (n = 14). Five intervention categories were identified, combining cash with nutrition behaviour change communication (BCC, n = 7), food transfers (n = 3), primary healthcare (n = 2), psychosocial stimulation (n = 7), and child protection (n = 4) interventions. Comparing cash-plus to cash alone, meta-analysis results suggest Cash + Food Transfers are more effective in improving height-for-age (d = 0.08 SD (0.03, 0.14), p = 0.02) with significantly reduced odds of stunting (OR = 0.82 (0.74, 0.92), p = 0.01), but had no added impact in improving weight-for-height (d = −0.13 (−0.42, 0.16), p = 0.24) or weight-for-age z-scores (d = −0.06 (−0.28, 0.15), p = 0.43). There was no added impact above cash alone from Cash + Nutrition BCC on anthropometrics; Cash + Psychosocial Stimulation on cognitive development; or Cash + Child Protection on parental use of violent discipline or exclusive positive parenting. Narrative synthesis evidence suggests that compared to cash alone, Cash + Primary Healthcare may have greater impacts in reducing mortality and Cash + Food Transfers in preventing acute malnutrition in crisis contexts. The main limitations of this review are the few numbers of studies that compared cash-plus interventions against cash alone and the potentially high heterogeneity between study findings. Conclusions In this study, we observed that few cash-plus combinations were more effective than cash transfers alone. Cash combined with food transfers and primary healthcare show the greatest signs of added effectiveness. More research is needed on when and how cash-plus combinations are more effective than cash alone, and work in this field must ensure that these interventions improve outcomes among the most vulnerable children.

The Consequences of Nutrition Hazards: A Literature Review

A better understanding of the factors that mitigate the consequences of nutrition-related hazards and encourage resilience is required to prevent against or improve poor development outcomes. This study included a review of the literature. Dietary adequacy is essential for growth and development, but current data suggests that nutrition supplements alone is insufficient to generate resilience to defend against, alleviate, and recover from nutritional stressors, as well as to promote healthy development. It is vital to combine nutrition therapy with stimulation and responsive care. Combined nutrition and psychosocial stimulation treatments may be successful in promoting protective factors and mitigating risks for impaired cognitive, motor, social, and affective functioning, hence assisting children in adapting to adversity.

Nutrition Intake and Stunting of Under-Five Children in Bogor West Java, Indonesia

Stunting is a growth and development disorder experienced by children due to poor nutrition, recurrent infections, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.

Children's Values, Social Support, Mother's Roles, and Psychosocial Stimulation in Boys and Girls

Psychosocial development is a developmental stage that every child will pass. This study aimed to analyze the influence of family and child characteristics, child value, social support, mother's involvement in psychosocial stimulation in boys and girls. The research design that was used in this study was a cross-sectional study. Site selection was chosen purposively, namely in the city of Medan. Research locations were in two villages, namely Kota Maksum, Medan Labuhan Subdistrict and Kota Besar Village, Medan Area District. The sample pulling technique uses simple random sampling with a sample of mothers who have children aged 2-3 years and come from a complete family of 150 people. Respondents interviewed with the questionnaire were mothers. Correlation test results showed a significant positive relationship between maternal age, children's values, dimensions of psychological value and dimensions of economic value, social support, dimensions of information support and dimensions of reward support, and mothers' role in care with psychosocial stimulation.

Improvement in appetite among stunted children receiving nutritional intervention in Bangladesh: results from a community-based study

Background/objectives Stunted children often have poor appetite, which may limit their response to nutritional interventions. We investigated the effect of a nutritional intervention on the appetite status of stunted children. Methods A longitudinal prospective intervention study was conducted with 50 stunted (length for age; LAZ < −2) (age and sex matched) aged 12–18 months and their mothers in Bauniabadh slum of Dhaka city. The stunted children received the following intervention package: one boiled egg and 150 ml milk daily 6 days a week for 3 months; psychosocial stimulation including structured play activities and parental counseling for 6 months; routine clinical care. Appetite status was measured using an interview-based tool “Early Childhood Appetite and Satiety Tool.” Results Over the period of nutritional intervention, the mean appetite score increased from 49 to 60 in the stunted children and was associated with increased food consumption. Over the intervention period, both egg and milk consumption increased (40.3–49.6 g and 83.8–138.5 ml, respectively). Conclusions Assessment of appetite status using EACST appears to be a useful tool for monitoring a nutritional intervention in stunted children. This tool may be useful for programs in managing child stunting in low-income countries and an important way to assess the efficacy of a nutritional intervention in these children.