Amal A. Fathalla
Menoufia University, Egypt
Title: Growth of Infants Accompanying Their Mothers in Prison: Nutritional Intervention
Biography
Biography: Amal A. Fathalla
Abstract
Infants who accompanied their mothers in prison were vulnerable to consequences of malnutrition. So, nutritional intervention program for those infants who deprived from outdoor facilities is a subject of interest. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the effect of nutritional intervention on growth of infants accompanying their mothers in prison. A quasi-experimental design was used (Pre and posttest). The study was conducted in Egypt Qanater Women's Prison. A convenience sample of 30 mother accompanying their infants in the above- mentioned setting was included. Three instruments were used: a structured interview questionnaire, an observational checklist and anthropometric measurements. The findings of this study revealed that infant growth improved after implementation of the nutritional intervention. In addition, there were statistically significant differences regarding mother's knowledge and practices observed on posttest than on pretest. As well as, there were positive correlation between mother's knowledge, practices and infant growth. The study concluded that mother's gained more knowledge and had better practices on posttest following the adherence of the nutritional intervention. In addition, their infants had better growth after implementation of the nutritional intervention. Therefore, it was recommended that nurse’s officers should provide periodical nutritional intervention to prisoned mother’s in order to sustain their infants growth. Special provisions must be in place to ensure that the child’s rights are promoted and protected whilst in prison. Child welfare rather than prison authorities should have primary responsibility for making decisions regarding children in prison and specialists in social work and child development should supervise their care.