Relations of maternal health literacy and parenting practices with early childhood development: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relations of early childhood development with maternal health literacy and mothers' early parenting practices. This cross-sectional study was conducted on mothers with children aged 36-59 months (n = 503) with a survey form, Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) and Turkish Health Literacy Scale-32. Children of mothers with sufficient/excellent health literacy levels, children who are breastfed for 12 months and longer, and children with a screen time of 2 h or less were more likely to be ECDI-on-track (AOR (CI) = 2.52 (1.53-4.15); 2.28 (1.41-3.70); 2.04 (1.18-3.50); respectively). In conclusion, children whose mothers were adequately health literate, who were breastfed longer and who had less screen time were better on ECDI indicators. Increasing the knowledge and skills of mothers on early parenting practices and supporting them to be good health literacy will contribute positively to the early development of children.