Although early childhood development (ECD) is emphasized in regulation and law, Vietnam still refers the term ECD to early childhood education and the role of parents in promoting child development is not frequently mentioned. This study aims to examine the influences of mother’s knowledge of child development and socio-economic factors on child development. We conducted this cross-sectional study in Nha Trang city, Vietnam and collected data from 296 child-mother dyads using multistage sampling. Child development is measured by Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition (ASQ-3) and completed by mothers. The results show that there were 34.1% of children reported with suspected delayed development. Inappropriate level of maternal knowledge of child development, practice to promote child development, and positive parenting practice took up 80.4%, 75.3%, and 76.0%. Results from the multiple logistic regression reveal that maternal knowledge of child development and several socio-economic factors including children’s age, and children living with both parents were significantly associated with child development. The study recommends that mothers should improve their knowledge of child development to ensure their children’s healthy development.

In Thailand, the maternal and child health (MCH) handbook has been used for nearly two decades in one of the MCH activities. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the utilization of the MCH handbook, and to analyze the relation to mother's MCH promoting belief and action. The data was collected from 224 mothers at one district in Kanchanburi province, Thailand, from January to February in 2005. About the utilization of the MCH handbook by mothers, there was a low rate of reading (14.3% mother had read all of the contents) and self-recording (0.9% mother had recorded every part). Multiple regression coefficients showed utilization of the MCH handbook was related to both mother's MCH promoting belief (p=0.001) and action (p=0.039). This was the strongest predictor variable of mother's MCH promoting belief. Other factors which significantly related to MCH promoting belief were family income, age, and education, and relation to action were marital status, occupation and age. According to the findings of this study, for MCH promotion, mothers' belief and action can be inspired through utilizing the MCH handbook and comprehensive assessment.