Childhood Forced Feeding and Associated Factors Among Mothers or Caregivers Inaddis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Objective To assess childhood forced feeding and associated factors among mothers or caregiver selected sub-cities, Addis Ababa, 2021. Method A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2021 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A single population proportion formula was used. A total of 561 mothers or caregivers were selected using systematic sampling. The data was collected by a structured interview administered by a questioner, and the collected data was entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Binary and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with the outcome variable. Texts, tables, and graphs were used to present the findings of the study. Results The prevalence of forced feeding was 74% (95% CI: 70.4–77.8%). Mothers or caregivers with less than $50 in monthly income (AOR = 0.292; 95% CI: 0.102–0.835), mothers with a perception that their child is underweight (AOR = 3.875; 95% CI: 1.519–9.886), mothers or caregivers concerned about being underweight (AOR = 8.872; 95% CI: 4.993–15.766), and mothers with three or more birth orders (AOR = 3.584; 95% CI: 1.4 to 1.4 to 3.676) Conclusion In comparison to previous studies, the magnitude of forced feeding by mothers or caregivers was high. Our data show that low-income households experience more force. Mothers who were anxious that their children were not eating enough had a higher likelihood of being forced to feed than mothers who were concerned that their children were eating too much. Forced feeding was more