How Much Residents "Don't Know" About Feeding Children 6-24 Months of Age

Abstract

Objectives: The period from birth to two years of age is a critical period. The physicians, who would provide guidance to the caregivers, are expected to be knowledgeable about feeding. This study is done to assess knowledge of residents on feeding non-breastfed children 6-24 months of age and to what extent this would change after presentation of a WHO guideline. Different dissemination routes and how these would affect guideline uptake is discussed. Design: WHO's "Guiding principles for feeding non-breastfed children 6-24 months of age" was presented to residents. A pre- and post-test was applied. Setting: A training and research hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Subjects: Family medicine and pediatrics residents were involved in the study. Thirty-four physicians took both pre- and post-tests. Intervention: A multiple choice test to assess knowledge levels and a questionnaire to understand use of guidelines was applied before the presentation. The test was repeated 10 weeks later. Main outcome measures: Pre- and post-test scores Results: There was no significant difference between groups' pretest scores, whereas pediatricians had significantly higher posttest scores than the family physicians. For both groups, posttest scores were significantly higher than their respective pretest scores. Conclusion: This study shows that the residents have a very low level of knowledge on this guidance, but benefit from guideline presentation. They have been more interested in reading printed materials compared to electronic resources. The integration of guidelines into residency training in Turkey have not been discussed, but might be useful to improve evidence-based practice by residents.