Cj. Ticao et Fe. Aboud, A PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH TO NUTRITION EDUCATION WITH FILIPINO MOTHERS, Social science & medicine (1982), 46(12), 1998, pp. 1531-1541
Citations number
30
Categorie Soggetti
Social Sciences, Biomedical","Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
The study examined Filipino mothers' problem solving on issues related
to child feeding, using a dyadic, peer-help approach. The participant
s were mothers of children under 6 yr of age from a village in the sou
thern Philippines, where malnutrition among children is prevalent. Mot
hers were paired with a mutual Friend (each nominated the other as a b
est friend) or a unilateral friend (only one nominated the other as a
best friend) to discuss a feeding problem to which they initially gave
similar solutions (agreed) and one to which they gave different solut
ions (disagreed). In the final step, they were asked to give privately
the solutions they considered best for the problem. The number and qu
ality of these final-step solutions were analyzed as a function of the
friend relation, the level of initial agreement with their friend par
tner, and the source of the solution. Results indicated that the quant
ity and quality of solutions increased from before to after the dyadic
discussion,especially among mothers paired with a mutual friend with
whom they agreed. Most of their final-step solutions came from ones th
ey themselves had generated during the discussion, not ones their frie
nd partner had proposed. There was also evidence that high quality sol
utions were generated by mothers paired with a disagreeing unilateral
friend. Implications for nutrition education concern the benefits of a
peer-help, dyadic problem-solving approach, taking into account the r
ole of a friend in facilitating a mother's production of new solutions
to child feeding problems. The procedure may be used by health promot
ers who want to build capacities and self-reliance through collective
problem solving. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.