Infant transition feeding: learn to educate

Abstract

Objective: To identify the knowledge of the community health agents from one Family Strategy Health Team about the information on infant transition feeding, also called supplementary food, in the lactation period. Such identification may support the development of an educational strategy to improve these skills.

Materials and Methods: Qualitative, exploratory study, with an action-research type design, conducted using semi-structured interviews realized with community health agents. Data were analyzed using the Bardin content analysis technique. Afterwards, we used an educational strategy with the participants, which consisted in a lecture on the topic of the study. Finally, a questionnaire was applied to the participants to evaluate the impact of the strategy implemented.

Results: We have identified poor knowledge about the essential factors needed for an appropriate complementary feeding, as well as upon the most common conditional factors of nutritional problems. However, the questionnaire application, after the educational strategy, showed an improvement in the knowledge level of the subjects on the issue of feeding transition.

Conclusion: The knowledge of the community health agents in relation to infant transitional feeding is poor, pointing to the need of improvement in the theme by the health professionals, which could provide a better quality of the information, and, consequently, of the orientation provided to the community. Furthermore, the favorable outcome achieved due to the educational strategy proposed in the study strengthens the importance of having this continuing education.