Effectiveness of Behavior Change Communication in Improving Feeding Practices, Nutritional and Health Status of Infants

NCT03488680 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: RP144107
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 630
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Child under nutrition is a major risk factor for ill health and mortality, contributes substantially to the burden of disease in low-income and middle-income countries and is associated with close to half of all child deaths. The prevalence of both underweight and stunting is highest in Africa and South-Central Asia. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Sub- Saharan Africa, and child malnutrition is a serious public health problem where the rates for stunting (40%), underweight (25%) and wasting (9%) among children under 5 years are among the highest in the world. Globally, about 40% of child mortality less than two years is associated with inappropriate feeding practices. Optimal breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding could prevent 13% and 6% under-five mortality, respectively. Over two third of malnutrition is associated with inappropriate feeding practices during the first year of life. The first two years of life provides a critical window of opportunity for ensuring appropriate growth and development of children from generation to generation through optimal feeding. Hence, the objective of this study to evaluate the effectiveness of behavior change communication on optimal complementary feeding through community level actors in improving feeding practice, health and nutritional status of infants. A cluster-randomized controlled trial which was conducted in West Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia from May 9, 2016 to October, 2017. Behavior change communication on complementary feeding was conducted in the intervention kebeles/villages for 8 months. A validated interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used for collecting information on the study subjects both at the baseline and after intervention. Data will be checked, coded and double entered using EPI info and exported to SPSS version 21 for statistical analysis. The output of the study findings could be useful for health and nutrition policy makers and other concerned bodies in decision making and to design effective intervention strategies to improve feeding practices thus mitigating child malnutrition and improving their health and growth. The total budget needed to conduct the study is 7,000 US dollar.

Conditions

Feeding Behavior; Nutritional Status; Morbidity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Linear growth

  Increase in linear growth (cm) after intervention

  8 months of intevention

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Dietary diversity score

  8 months of intervention

• Health status

  8 months of intervention

• Time of initiation of complementary food

  8 months of intervention

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavior change communication

Behavioral: Behavior change communication

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

No Behavior change communication

Interventions

Behavior change communication BEHAVIORAL

Behavior change communication about optimal complementary feeding

Intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 1 Month - 12 Months
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• All infants aged 0-6 months at the time of baseline survey,
• Residents in the sampled villages

You may not qualify if:

• Mother who are ill and unable to communicate
• Infants with birth defects, impaired feeding and ill at the time of baseline survey.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Jimma University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Jimma University

Jimma, 999, Ethiopia

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Sun J, Dai Y, Zhang S, Huang J, Yang Z, Huo J, Chen C. Implementation of a programme to market a complementary food supplement (Ying Yang Bao) and impacts on anaemia and feeding practices in Shanxi, China. Matern Child Nutr. 2011 Oct;7 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):96-111. doi: 10.1111/j.1740-8709.2011.00353.x.

  PMID: 21929638 BACKGROUND

• Ayalew CA, Belachew T. Effect of complementary feeding behaviour change communication delivered through community-level actors on infant growth and morbidity in rural communities of West Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. Matern Child Nutr. 2021 Jul;17(3):e13136. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13136. Epub 2021 Jan 6.

  PMID: 33403819 DERIVED

• Abiyu C, Belachew T. Effect of complementary feeding behavior change communication delivered through community-level actors on the time of initiation of complementary foods in rural communities of West Gojjam zone, Northwest Ethiopia: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. BMC Pediatr. 2020 Nov 5;20(1):509. doi: 10.1186/s12887-020-02396-z.

  PMID: 33153434 DERIVED

• Abiyu C, Belachew T. Effect of complementary feeding behavior change communication delivered through community-level actors on dietary adequacy of infants in rural communities of West Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2020 Sep 3;15(9):e0238355. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238355. eCollection 2020.

  PMID: 32881945 DERIVED

Related Links

• Olinelibray in pdf version

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior, Animal; Behavior

Study Officials

• Chalachew Abiyu, MSc

  Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 14, 2016
• First Posted: April 5, 2018
• Study Start: May 9, 2016
• Primary Completion: August 17, 2017
• Study Completion: October 6, 2017
• Last Updated: April 5, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-04

Locations

ET (1)