Assessment Of Maternal Nutrition Services Of Barangay 890 Towards An Enhanced Sustainable Health Program

Abstract

The goal of an institution's community service learning programs is to improve the growth and welfare of the community it serves. Providing resources to those in need and assisting them in raising their standard of living would rank among the finest accomplishments of a university. Philippine Christian University (PCU), as a private Higher Education Institution, created PCU-SERVES (Supports, Educates, Responds, Values, Empowers, Stewards) to support the sustainable growth of the urban poor in Metro Manila. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences through PCU-SERVES created a learning program called “Service with Heart”. It is a set of learning opportunities and connections to the outside world for students in the Colleges of Arts, and Sciences. One of the activities was the “Maternal Health is the Family's Wealth” initiative for the women of Barangay 890 as part of the Service with a Heart project addressing the community's need for Health and Mental well-being focused on mothers' nutrition. Maternal nutrition plays a critical role in fetal growth and development also during the first 1000 days of the babies. The assessment of the maternal nutrition services provided to the mothers in Barangay 890 is the main objective of the study. A self-made survey questionnaire was used to assess the program. Results revealed that the respondents were very satisfied with the program in terms of process and services as assessed by the Barangay officials present during the conduct of the activity and by the mothers themselves. Additionally, Knowledge learned was highly acquired with an overall weighted mean of  3.85. An overall rating of  3.88, means that the knowledge gained was put into practice. Researchers proposed developing an enhanced sustainable program by concentrating on the metrics with the lowest weighted mean to improve the outcomes of maternal nutrition services offered to the community.