Effectiveness of instructional program on parents’ knowledge concerning etiologies and clinical manifestation of picky eating behavior among children under five years of age

Abstract

Objective: To assess parents’ knowledge concerning etiologies and clinical manifestation of picky eating behaviors. To determine the effectiveness of instructional program on parents’ knowledge through comparing the knowledge scores at the pre-test and post-test. Methodology: To achieve the aims of this study, this quasi-experimental design was conducted on children suffering from picky eating behavior assigned to study and control groups is used to study the effectiveness of instructional program on parents' knowledge toward dietary patterns for children with picky eating behavior at Al-Zahra Teaching Hospital in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf City. Questionnaires were developed to determine the effectiveness of the instructional program on parents' knowledge toward dietary patterns for children with picky eating behavior. The final instruments consisted of (4) parts First: concept of picky eating behavior in children (Includes four questions) Second: causes of picky behavior and dangerous factors (Includes eight questions) Third: symptoms of picky behavior (It includes six questions) Fourth: importance of a child's picky eating behavior diet (It consists of seven questions) Fifth: ways to deal with the child picky eating behavior in food (It contains seven questions) Sixth: therapeutic and guiding measures for picky eating children (It has thirteen questions).