Includes curriculum vitae.

ABSTRACT :
Objectives of the Study A. General Objective: To identify the most significant factors associated with undernutrition among children in selected barangays of Silang, Cavite B. Specific Objectives: 1. To determine the individual characteristics of children when they are grouped according to age, gender, size of the child at birth. 2. To determine the maternal characteristics of the child as to marital status, mother's age at birth, education, occupation and birth interval. 3. To determine the infant feeding practices received by the child in terms of type of milk fed during infancy, exclusiveness of breastfeeding and duration of breastfeeding. 4. To determine the household characteristics as to monthly income, household size, and number of under- five children in the household. 5. To determine if there is a significant relationship between individual characteristics of the children and their nutritional status. 6. To determine if there is a significant relationship between maternal characteristics and nutritional status of children. 7. To determine if there is a significant relationship between infant feeding practices and nutritional status of children. 8. To determine if there is a significant relationship between household characteristics and nutritional status of children.
Methodology The study utilized descriptive correlational research design. The main data gathering tool used in obtaining the needed data was the questionnaire. Three barangays in Silang, Cavite, namely: Kaong, Biga 1 and San Miguel Il were selected through purposive sampling. These areas were selected because of the predominance of below normal or underweight preschool children as reported by the 2007 Health and Nutrition Profile of the Municipal Nutrition Office of Silang, Cavite (Appendix A). The lists of children from selected barangays in Silang, Cavite were obtained from the records of the barangay health centers of the respective barangays that were included in this study. Quota samples of 100 children with reported underweight problem (identified by the Municipal Nutrition Office) were covered in this study. These children were selected through purposive sampling. The subjects of study were children between 3 and 6 years of age. Only one child from each family was included in the study, if there was more than one eligible child, the oldest was selected. The respondents of this study were mothers or legal guardians of the selected children. Descriptive statistical tools such as frequency count, mean, range, percentage and rank were used to present the first, second, third, fourth and fifth research questions. Chi-square test was used to determine the relationships between the nutritional status of children across individual characteristics (age and size of the child at birth), maternal characteristics (marital status, mother's age at birth, education, occupation, and birth interval), infant feeding practices (type of milk fed to the child during infancy, exclusiveness of breastfeeding, and duration of breastfeeding), and household characteristics (monthly family income, household size, and number of under-five children in the household).
Findings of the 19 children covered in this study, 94.74% were moderately undernourished, and 1 child (5.26%) was detected with severe undernourishment. In terms of maternal characteristics, the mothers of the children were mostly married, had formal schooling, and were not working. The mothers' average at birth was 28 years old. A large portion of mothers gave birth to their child one to two years after the birth of their previous child. Moreover, most mothers exclusively breastfed their children during infancy and the duration of breastfeeding was usually beyond 12 months. As regards to household characteristics, households in Kaong, Biga I and San Miguel II in Silang, Cavite generally belonged to poor income families with an average income of only more than Php3,000 and an average household size of 6 family members. Almost a third of the households had 2 to 3 under-five children in the family. Test statistics showed that age of the child, weight of the child at birth, mother's birth interval, and monthly family income were significantly related to the nutritional status of children. On the other hand, gender of the child, marital status of mother, mother's age at birth, mother's education, mother's education occupation, type of milk fed to the child during infancy, exclusiveness of breastfeeding, duration of breastfeeding, household size and number of under-five children in the family were not significantly related to the nutritional status of the children.
Conclusions In the light of the significant findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. Evidence suggested that the undernourishment was highest amongst young preschoolers 3 to 4 years of age. 2. Children who were very small at birth have a higher probability to be undernourished than children with normal size. 3. There was a clear evidence to suggest that short birth interval is closely linked with undernourishment among preschool children. 4. There was no clear evidence to suggest that breastfeeding practices are closely related to undernourishment of children. 5. Children from low income families were at high risk of undernourishment than children from affluent families.
Recommendations Childhood undernourishment was found out to be associated with birth interval and with birth size. These findings, together with the lack of progress infant malnutrition, suggest the need for more programs to prevent maternal malnutrition in pregnancy. The well developed maternal pregnancy care system would provide an ideal opportunity for delivering those interventions, Higher levels of family were associated with reduced childhood undernourishment. These findings highlight the importance of the purchasing power of the family for continued food assistance to ensure ongoing improvements in child nutritional status. Further focuses are needed to accelerate the improvement in nutritional status of children and interventions such as micronutrient supplements and communications about healthy diet are especially needed for pregnant and lactating women, Future surveys need to use methodologies that will allow the results to be compared with past surveys, but also gather more information for developing national nutrition policies. Specific recommendations for the design of future studies include: measuring all preschool aged children in the house, conducting interviews and taking measurements at home at least for children less than six months of age. Also, more attention must be paid to the preparations for future nutrition assessments such as the survey design methodology and appropriate training.