261724 Training Women to Help Women: Mother-to-Mother Support around Infant and Young Child Feeding and Related Maternal Nutrition in Resource Poor Settings

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Lenette Golding, PhD, MPH , Child Health and Nutrition, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Mary Lung'aho, PhD , Nutrition Policy Practice, Glastonbury
Maria Suarez , Independent Consultant, Oakland, CA
Abigail Beeson, MPH , CARE Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Walter Vilchez Davila, RD , CARE Peru, Lima, Peru
Freddy Espinoza, MD, MPH , Independent Consultant, Managua, Nicaragua
Sayoh Francis, BA , Health, CARE Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Sheikh Shahed Rahman, MBBS , Health, CARE Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Santi Sri Wulandari, MD , CARE Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Bethann Cottrell, PhD , Nutrtion Plus, Health Equity Unit, CARE USA, Atlanta, GA
Mother-to-mother support groups (MtMSG) are groups of women who come together to learn about and discuss issues around infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and related maternal nutrition (rMN). One member acts as the facilitator and is trained on basic IYCF and rMN technical information and group facilitation techniques. The mother facilitator is responsible for engaging group members in discussions about IYCF and rMN and providing basic health messages in an interactive, participatory manner. Review of the literature provides evidence that women are more likely to try and then continue optimal maternal dietary and infant and young child feeding practices if they recognize the benefits, believe they can overcome perceived and actual barriers and feel supported. Since 2008, CARE has implemented the Window of Opportunity, a maternal, infant and young child nutrition project, in resource-poor, rural communities in five countries. Through this project, CARE has developed a training curriculum for MtMSG facilitators. This curriculum is unique in that it goes beyond providing information on technical content pertaining to IYCF and rMN and instead, teaches facilitators active listening, problem solving and facilitation skills. By the end of 2011 the project trained approximately 600 MtMSG facilitators in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Peru and Sierra Leone. Ongoing program monitoring and evaluation indicates that CARE's MtMSG training helps facilitators understand the concept of support, increases their confidence and ability to provide support to other women and provides skills on how to engage women in group activities around IYCF and rMN.

Learning Areas:
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
(1) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using mother-to-mother support groups as a targeted communication intervention in low resource communities in global settings; (2) Describe the process a global maternal, infant and young child nutrition project used to develop a curriculum used to train mother-to-mother support group facilitators; (3) Explain the results of ongoing monitoring and evaluation data regarding mother-to-mother support groups.

Keywords: Maternal and Child Health, Community Capacity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a senior technical advisor for the maternal and child nutrition project that this abtract is associated with. I have worked on the design of the trainig curriculum associated with this abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.