Age Differences on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Weaning among Nursing Mothers in Shongom Local Government Area, Gombe State

Abstract

Weaning is a natural and essential part of a child's development. The purpose of the study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of weaning among nursing mothers in Shongom LGA, Gombe State. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised of 3,165 while the sample size was 360 nursing mothers obtained using Cohen table. A researcher-designed instrument titled “Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Weaning Questionnaire (KAPWQ)” was used for data collection. Frequency and percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Chi-square (χ²) statistics and one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Results revealed that less than half of nursing mothers in Shongom LGA, Gombe State possessed knowledge of weaning (33.8%), and practised weaning (38.5%). Also, nursing mothers in Shongom LGA, Gombe State had positive attitude ( =2.55) towards weaning. Additionally, there is no significant difference in the proportion of nursing mothers that possessed knowledge of weaning in Shongom LGA, Gombe State based on age ( ²=1.798; p-value=.407). The findings of the study also showed that there was a significant difference in the attitude of nursing mothers towards weaning in Shongom LGA, Gombe State based on age (F_(2,353)=8.657; p=.000). Also, a significant difference existed in the proportion of nursing mothers that practice weaning in Shongom LGA, Gombe State based on age ( ²=28.178; p-value=.000). The researcher recommended among others that public health educators should develop targeted educational programs to improve knowledge of nursing mothers about the importance of weaning and provide evidence-based information on best weaning practices.