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. 2022 Jun 2;6(7):nzac098.
doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzac098. eCollection 2022 Jul.

Fathers' Complementary Feeding Support Strengthens the Association Between Mothers' Decision-Making Autonomy and Optimal Complementary Feeding in Nigeria

Diana Allotey  1 , Valerie L Flax  2 , Abiodun F Ipadeola  3 , Sarah Kwasu  4 , Linda S Adair  1 , Carmina G Valle  1 , Sujata Bose  5 , Stephanie L Martin  1
Affiliations

Fathers' Complementary Feeding Support Strengthens the Association Between Mothers' Decision-Making Autonomy and Optimal Complementary Feeding in Nigeria

Diana Allotey et al. Curr Dev Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Evidence about the effects of mothers' decision-making autonomy on complementary feeding is not consistent, generating hypotheses about whether complementary feeding social support moderates the relation between mothers' decision-making autonomy and the practice of complementary feeding.

Objectives: This study examined the moderation effect of fathers' complementary feeding support on the association of mothers' decision-making autonomy with the WHO complementary feeding indicators of minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency, and minimum acceptable diet, and post hoc secondary outcomes of feeding eggs or fish the previous day. The study also examined the concordance between mothers' and fathers' perspectives of mothers' autonomy and fathers' complementary feeding support.

Methods: Data were from cross-sectional surveys of 495 cohabiting parents of children aged 6-23 mo enrolled in an Alive & Thrive initiative implementation research study in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Logistic regression models were used to examine moderation, and κ statistics and 95% CIs were used to assess the concordance in reported perspectives of the parents.

Results: The moderation results show that the simple slopes for decision-making were significant for minimum meal frequency, minimum acceptable diet, and feeding children fish the previous day when fathers offered ≥2 complementary feeding support actions. There were no significant findings in the moderation models for minimum dietary diversity or feeding children eggs the previous day. The findings from the concordance tests show moderate to substantial agreement (ranging from 57.6% to 76.0%) between parents' perspectives of mothers' autonomy, and moderate to excellent agreement (ranging from 52.1% to 89.1%) between parents' perspectives of fathers' complementary feeding support.

Conclusions: In Nigeria, high levels of fathers' complementary feeding support strengthen the association of mothers' decision-making autonomy with minimum meal frequency, minimum acceptable diet, and feeding children fish the previous day.This study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04835662).

Keywords: Nigeria; complementary feeding; decision-making; fathers; mothers; social support.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Margins plots of the adjusted predicted probabilities for meeting the minimum meal frequency indicator requirements for mothers’ autonomous household decision-making across varying levels of fathers’ complementary feeding support. (B) Margins plots of the adjusted predicted probabilities for meeting the minimum acceptable diet indicator requirements for mothers’ autonomous household decision-making across varying levels of fathers’ complementary feeding support. (C) Margins plots of the adjusted predicted probabilities for feeding young children fish the previous day for mothers’ autonomous household decision-making across varying levels of fathers’ complementary feeding support. Pr, probability.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proposed pathways through which father's complementary feeding support can enhance the positive impact of mother's decision-making autonomy on complementary feeding practices.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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