Clinical trial NCT02740842: A Follow-up Study on the Sustained Impact of Alive & Thrive Interventions on Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices
Official title: A Follow-up Study on the Sustained Impact of Alive & Thrive Behavior Change Communication Interventions on Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in Bangladesh
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Breastfeeding
Complementary Feeding
Lead sponsor: International Food Policy Research Institute
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: FHI 360
First posted: 2016-04-15
Enrollment: 2400
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 45
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Alive \& Thrive (A\&T) is a multi-year initiative to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. During Phase 1 (A\&T-1, 2009-2014), funded by the Bill \& Melinda Gates Foundation, A\&T aimed to reduce undernutrition and death caused by suboptimal IYCF practices in three countries - Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam.

In 2014, IFPRI in collaboration with DATA conducted the endline survey in Bangladesh. The overall findings of the evaluation indicate that A\&T's work in Bangladesh is a remarkable success story of scaling up what has been challenging to date in the field of nutrition: complex, high intensity and at-scale behavior change communications interventions.

In 2016, a follow up study will be conducted to determine the sustained impacts on IYCF practices, expansion of operations and promoted practices into new areas, and diffusion of IYCF information, two years after the termination of external project support.

Detailed description: Alive \& Thrive (A\&T) is a multi-year initiative to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. During Phase 1 (A\&T-1, 2009-2014), funded by the Bill \& Melinda Gates Foundation, A\&T aimed to reduce undernutrition and death caused by suboptimal IYCF practices in three countries - Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam.

A\&T-1 strategies in Bangladesh were designed to support improvements in IYCF in three key ways: 1) improving policy and regulatory environments (advocacy); 2) shaping IYCF demand and practice (community-based interventions); and 3) increasing supply, demand, and use of high quality complementary foods (private sector engagement). In addition, a communications component was integrated into each of these focus areas to support their activities.

In 2014, IFPRI in collaboration with DATA conducted the endline survey. The overall findings of the evaluation indicate that A\&T's work in Bangladesh is a remarkable success story of scaling up what has been challenging to date in the field of nutrition: complex, high intensity and at-scale behavior change communications interventions. This is demonstrated by a series of findings on reach of the interpersonal counseling interventions and the mass media, as well as attributable improvements in several critical indicators. During the intervention period, A\&T facilitated the training of over 75,000 frontline workers and health providers across the country. The program model reached large scale with an estimated 1.7 million mothers of children under 2 years in 50 sub-districts. The mass media intervention operated at a national level and through national television channels. Compared to the 2010 baseline survey, improvements were seen in several key IYCF practices that are attributable to A\&T intensive package of interventions. Specifically, large significant impacts were seen on two key breastfeeding indicators: EBF (DID impact estimates: 36.9 percentage point-pp) and early initiation of BF (DID 19.4 pp). Similarly, large significant impact were seen in minimum dietary diversity (DID 16.3 pp), minimum meal frequency (DID 14.7 pp), minimum acceptable diet (DID 22.0 pp), and consumption of iron rich food (DID 24.6 pp).

In 2016, a follow up study will be conducted to determine the sustained impacts on IYCF practices, expansion of operations and promoted practices into new areas, and diffusion of IYCF information, two years after the termination of external project support. Because achievements related to service delivery and outcomes are intended to be sustained in the intervention areas and even expanded to other areas where BRAC's Essential Health Care program operates, including the comparison areas, this study aims to examine elements in both the original intervention and comparison areas.

This study focuses on the follow-up survey of the BRAC community-based model. The study research questions include:

Sustained impacts

1. To what extent are IYCF knowledge and practices sustained in the intervention areas?
2. To what extent is exposure to IYCF and nutrition behavior change communications sustained in the intervention areas?

Expanded operations and reach 1) To what extent has exposure to IYCF and nutrition behavior change communications been expanded (i.e. in comparison areas)?

Diffusion of information

1) To what extent is IYCF information diffused through social networks or by other sources (i.e. other than BRAC frontline workers)?

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Women with children \<24 months of age

Exclusion Criteria:

* Age \<18
* Mental disorders that cannot understand and answer the questions

Primary outcomes:
measure: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) among children 0-6 months of age
timeFrame: 2 years after endline
measure: Early initiation of breastfeeding
timeFrame: 2 years after endline
measure: Complementary feeding among children 6-23.9 months of age
timeFrame: 2 years after endline
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Extension of exposure to IYCF and nutrition behavioral change communication
timeFrame: 2 years after endline
measure: Diffusion of IYCF information though social network
timeFrame: 2 years after endline
measure: Knowledge of infant and young child feeding
timeFrame: 2 years after endline
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Washington
country: United States
facility: International Food Policy Research Institute
state: District of Columbia
Study officials:
References:
citation: Nguyen PH, Frongillo EA, Kim SS, Zongrone AA, Jilani A, Tran LM, Sanghvi T, Menon P. Information Diffusion and Social Norms Are Associated with Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in Bangladesh. J Nutr. 2019 Nov 1;149(11):2034-2045. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxz167.
citation: Kim SS, Nguyen PH, Tran LM, Sanghvi T, Mahmud Z, Haque MR, Afsana K, Frongillo EA, Ruel MT, Menon P. Large-Scale Social and Behavior Change Communication Interventions Have Sustained Impacts on Infant and Young Child Feeding Knowledge and Practices: Results of a 2-Year Follow-Up Study in Bangladesh. J Nutr. 2018 Oct 1;148(10):1605-1614. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxy147.