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. 2021 Aug 28;79(1):154.
doi: 10.1186/s13690-021-00673-6.

Assessing parents' awareness about children's "first thousand days of life": a descriptive and analytical study

Fatemeh Bagheri  1 , Nouzar Nakhaee  2 , Yones Jahani  3 , Reza Khajouei  4
Affiliations

Assessing parents' awareness about children's "first thousand days of life": a descriptive and analytical study

Fatemeh Bagheri et al. Arch Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Many adulthood illnesses are rooted in childhood, especially in the "first thousand days of life". Despite parents' role in children's development, no study has examined parental awareness concerning this period. This study aimed to examine the awareness of parents concerning the "first thousand days of life" and the relationship between parents' demographics and their awareness.

Methods: This study was conducted on 135 parents in Kerman, Iran, using a valid and reliable questionnaire developed by researchers based on the opinion of experts and relevant references. The relationship between participants' demographics and their awareness was examined by multiple regression. The relationship between homogeneity of couples' education degree and awareness was analyzed using ANOVA. Chi-square was used to examine the relationship between information sources and parents' familiarity and to compare parents' preferred sources.

Results: The average parental awareness was 41.96 ± 11.90. Eighty-three percent of the parents have not heard about the "first thousand days of life". The source of information for 57% of the parents was friends and relatives (p < 0.0001). Overall, 87% of the parents desired to know about this period, and 47% liked using mobile applications for information (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Parents' awareness about the "first thousand days of life" is lower than the average. Since the source of information concerning this period for most parents is friends and relatives and most parents are very interested in obtaining information, it is recommended that policy-makers use the capacity of other sources to increase parents' awareness. Given the greater tendency of parents to obtain information through mobile applications, we suggest investing more in this source.

Keywords: Awareness; Child health; First thousand days of life; Parents.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The flowchart of study design
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Homogeneity of the education level of the parents and their spouses
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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