The effect of home visit to 6 months-old babies on hemoglobin value

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of home visits to 6-month-old babies by the nurse for 3 months on the hemoglobin value measured in the 9th month of babies. The sample of this study, which was conducted as a non-randomized controlled study, consisted of a total of 100 6-month-old infants, 50 in the experimental group and 50 in the control group. Home visits were made to the babies in the experimental group 3 times a month. During the home visits, the questionnaire form prepared by the researcher was filled and the babies were followed up and cared for according to the 6-9 months home follow-up and care form. The control group babies were followed up routinely in family health centers. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were applied to the obtained data in the IBM SPSS Statistics v.22.0 package program. A p value below 0.05 was considered significant for all analyses. In the research findings; While the mean hemoglobin level of infants in the experimental group was 12.01±1.115, it was 11.47±1.034 in the control group (p<0.05). It was observed that the hemoglobin value of 52.0% of the infants in the experimental group was above 11 g/dl, while 68.0% of the infants in the control group were below 11 g/dl (p<0.05). While it was calculated as 98.0% in the first follow-up and 71.4% in the last follow-up of infants in the experimental group with more than 7 daytime sucking frequency, it was calculated as 76.6% in the infants in the control group at the first follow-up and 40.4% at the last follow-up (p< 0.05). In the third follow-up, the proportion of infants receiving from all food groups was 98.0% in the experimental group and 78.0% in the control group, respectively (p<0.05). While all of the mothers in the experimental group stated that they used iron supplementation regularly for their babies, this rate was stated as 84.0% in the control group (p<0.05). As a result, it has been shown that iron deficiency anemia in infants included in the scope of this study continues to be a serious public health problem, and home visits by nurses are effective in protecting and preventing infants from iron deficiency anemia