Change in Child-feeding Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices With Nutrition Education Mass Media in Ghana

NCT02800564 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: S065653b
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 689
• Locations: 2 countries
• Sites: 4

Brief Summary

Optimal infant and young child feeding practices are largely inadequate in rural and poor households in Ghana. Child welfare clinics (CWCs) focus on immunization, supplementation, and growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) activities among infants and young children (IYC). An essential component of GMP activities is to counsel mothers to practice optimal IYC feeding and health practices, but most of the time this is completely missing or not specific enough to be effective. This study will test the effect of a mass media nutrition education program on caregiver infant and young child feeding knowledge, attitudes and practices using a community-based cluster randomized design. Formative research will first be undertaken to determine the beliefs, attitudes, and constraints that prevent caregivers from adequately feeding their infants and young children with members of the community (caregivers with children under-five, men and elderly women).The information gathered will then be used to design specific messages that directly address the IYC feeding challenges of the community. Clusters will be randomized into active (radio messages with in-person engagement and follow-up) and passive (only radio messages) arms of the intervention. Farm Radio International (implementers of the mass media programming) will ensure the regular broadcast of twice weekly messages for a period of about 12-18 months.

Conditions

Health Education, Community; Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Malnutrition; Infant Nutritional Sciences

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in infant feeding behaviour assessed by questionnaire

  Change in child feeding behaviours that are promoted on radio

  12-18 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change in infant feeding knowledge of mother assessed by questionnaire

  12-18 months

• Change in infant feeding attitudes of mother assessed by questionnaire

  12-18 months

Study Arms (2)

Active mass media approach

EXPERIMENTAL

Communities will be exposed to twice weekly radio programming for up to 18 months plus interactive voice response systems (IVRS) and monthly open community meetings.

Behavioral: Active mass media approach

Passive mass media approach

EXPERIMENTAL

Communities will be exposed to twice weekly radio programming for up to 18 months

Behavioral: Passive mass media approach

Interventions

Active mass media approach BEHAVIORAL

Communities will be exposed to twice weekly radio programming for up to 18 months. Interactive voice response systems (IVRS) will be promoted where listeners can chose to receive pre-recorded audio/voice messages or text messages on mobile phones. Messages will be consistent with the weekly radio program. The topic of the radio program will be discussed in monthly open community meetings. Each individual may choose to participate or not to listen to the radio program, receive the IVRS system, and attend monthly meetings.

Active mass media approach

Passive mass media approach BEHAVIORAL

These communities will be exposed to twice weekly radio programming for up to 18 months only.

Passive mass media approach

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• lives in cluster randomly assigned to either active or passive arm
• has child \< 5 y of age
• is the primary caregiver of the child

You may not qualify if:

• has physical condition/illness that prevents from taking care of child
• has physical condition/illness that prevents from responding to surveys

Sponsors & Collaborators

• McGill University: lead
• Global Affairs Canada: collaborator
• World Vision: collaborator

Study Sites (4)

World Vision

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Location

McGill University

Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T5, Canada

Location

Farm Radio International

Accra, Ghana

Location

University of Ghana

Legon, Ghana

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Education; Malnutrition

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Adherence Interventions; Medication Adherence; Patient Compliance; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Treatment Adherence and Compliance; Health Behavior; Behavior; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Study Officials

• Grace S Marquis, PhD

  McGill University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: The study design and communities' status as active or passive are not discussed with the field staff.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 8, 2016
• First Posted: June 15, 2016
• Study Start: April 1, 2017
• Primary Completion: February 28, 2018
• Study Completion: February 28, 2018
• Last Updated: March 22, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (2); GH (2)