Background: Childhood malnutrition is a crucial public health issue in developing countries. Mothers' nutritional knowledge significantly affects children's nutritional status. It also appears that mothers with low health literacy are unable to adequately meet their children's nutritional needs because they do not clearly understand their children's nutrition and malnutrition status.
Methods: This randomized controlled trial aims to describe the development and study protocol of the MyKid'sNutrition application, a smartphone-based intervention for mothers of preschool (2-6 years old) children. The application contains several contents on children's healthy eating, childhood underweight, children's loss of appetite, and child growth assessment. As part of the MyKid'sNutrition trial, a total of 116 participants will be randomized 1:1 either to (a) treatment as usual and MyKid'sNutrition or (b) treatment as usual alone. The results of this trial will be based on changes in growth indicators and mothers' nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice within the groups and the differences between them.
Discussion: Due to their widespread availability throughout society, smartphones can be used to deliver educational content on a large scale at a low cost. In addition, they can provide novel ways for patients to receive support. Hence, it is essential to conduct research studies on these types of interventions. MyKid'sNutrition application offers dietary solutions for such nutritional problems as underweight, loss of appetite, and malnutrition in children. Meanwhile, it provides detailed instructions on how to interact with the child.
Trial registration: IRCT.ir IRCT20140907019082N11. Registered on February 19, 2022.
Keywords: Feeding practices; Maternal nutrition knowledge; Mobile application; Preschool children; Randomized controlled trial; Undernutrition; mHealth.
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