Abstract:
The study examined the Relationship between Women's
Economic Activities and the Adequacy of Feeding their Pre-
School children at Ho in the Volta Region.
The main aim of this project was to find out the
relationship between the length of time mothers spent away
from home and feeding adequacy which was assessed by growth
performance of the children.
In all 70 working mothers with children aged 24 - 60
months were studied. A semi-structured questionnaire was used
to collect demographic data whilst the frequency of
consumption of commonly used Ghanaian foods was collected
using the food frequency questionnaire. Nutrient intakes of
the study children were assessed by the 24-hour dietary-recall
method. Anthropometric measurements (weights and heights)
were used to assess the growth performance of the children.
Using various statistical tools for analysis and
presentation, the study revealed that children studied had
diets that were low in calories, the group mean being 66% of
the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for energy. The results
showed that 27.1% of the children studied were malnourished
(ie. they had weights for heights below - 2 SD) . The low
energy intakes of the children might probably account for the
growth deficit.
There was a significant relationship between the lengths
of time mothers spent away from home and the growth
performance of their children.
It was clear that more of those children who showed signs
of malnutrition were those whose mothers spent 9 or more hours
away from home daily.
The main recommendations are that nutrition education be
intensified for mothers of pre-school children. Secondly, Day
Care Centres manned by qualified personnel be established at
or near places of work to alleviate the feeding problems of
pre-school children whose mothers work.
