MATERNAL BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP WEIGHING ON CHILDREN WITH NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN WORKING AREAHEALTH CENTER CITY AEK HABIL SIBOLGA 2016

Abstract

Observing the growth of under five years old children through weighing each month indicated that the percentage of 6-59 month-old children who were not weighed in the last six months tended to increase from 25.5% in 2007 to 34.3% in 2013. The objective of the research was to find out the correlation of women?s behavior in weighing of under five years old children with the nutritional status of children. The research was descriptive with cross sectional design. The population was 1,082 under five years old children in 13 integrated service post and 92 of them were used as the samples, using purposive sampling technique and proportional random sampling technique. The result of the research showed that 33.7% of the under five years old children had under weight, 3.3% severe under weight, 4.3% severe stunting and 2.2% severe wasting. The variables which were correlated with nutritional status were knowledge, based on WAZ at p-value=0.001 and WHZ at p-value=0.002, attitude based on WAZ at p-value=0.001 and HAZ at p-value=0.011 and action base on WAZ at p-value 0.001, HAZ at p-value=0.004, and WHZ at p value=0.001 in the working area of Aek Habil Puskesmas Sibolga 2016. It is recommended that the Health Agency and Aek Habil Puskesmas Sibolga, increase health service on the level of integrated service post intensively, especially in nutrition intake by providing giving food supplement program and information about the importance of weighing under five years old children and supporting facility for integrated service post activities.