Clinical trial NCT02249286: Integrating Nutrition Education & Household Food Production for Child Nutrition
Official title: Child-Centred Counselling and Home-Based Food Production to Improve Dietary Adequacy and Growth of Young Children in Southwest Ethiopia
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Behavior
Keywords: Child Centered Counseling
Home based food production
Nutrition
Health
IYCF
Lead sponsor: Jimma University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Nestlé Foundation
name: Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR)
First posted: 2014-09-25
Enrollment: 404
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 3
Maximum age (years): 12
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: In Ethiopia, a child-centered counseling approach is hypothesized to be more effective than the current nutrition and health education when investment on home-based food production is used as a platform for nutrition education. This project is proposed to evaluate the efficacy of a food-based package integrating child-centered nutrition counseling and home-based food production using a between-group comparative intervention study. The intervention comprises child-centered nutrition counseling for caretakers and support for 'developed' gardens and improved backyard poultry production.

Detailed description: Growth faltering among Ethiopian infants and young children is one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Nutrition education on infant and young child feeding has shown good potential to improve growth of young children whenever it is accessible, context-based and integrated with locally available resources. The current nutrition education in Ethiopia, however, appears to be general and lacks the essential components for success. It is mainly didactic and lacks a motivational approach that can enhance the self-efficacy of mothers for behavior change. Another important barrier for nutrition education to become effective is that rural mothers have limited access to nutrient-dense foods that are recommended to be fed to young children. Therefore, it is expected that low food access by poor households together with the less motivational approach used may hamper the effectiveness of the current nutrition education in the country. In Ethiopia, a child-centered counseling approach is hypothesized to be more effective than the current nutrition and health education when investment on home-based food production is used as a platform for nutrition education. This project is proposed to evaluate the efficacy of a food-based package integrating child-centered nutrition counseling and home-based food production using a between-group comparative intervention study. The intervention comprises child-centered nutrition counseling for caretakers and support for 'developed' gardens and improved backyard poultry production; whereas the control will only receive the agriculture extension and the existing health and nutrition education in the area. Two Primary Healthcare Units (one intervention and one control group) will be selected from Jimma Zone using relevant criteria. A total of 404 (i.e. 202 in each of intervention and control areas) households with infants of age \< 12 months will participate in the study for 18 months. The efficacy of the intervention will be assessed by its effect on child growth and infant and child feeding index as primary outcomes. Besides the effect on dietary adequacy and growth, the project aims at evaluating the interactive processes in a longitudinal way to provide evidence on the possible success factors and barriers encountered. Therefore, secondary outcomes include household production, income and expenditure in relation to the home-based food production; diet diversity; feeding and care practices, and morbidity. Data will be compared between intervention and control groups using linear mixed-effects models and generalized linear models.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* infants less than 12 month
* are permanent residents in the area;
* have no plan to move away during the intervention period;
* are willing to adopt the agriculture activities; and
* have adequate place and time to adopt developed gardens \& backyard poultry production

Exclusion Criteria:

* infants with severe acute malnutrition warranting referral to nutrition rehabilitation program with Ready-To-Use Therapeutic foods
* severely ill infants with clinical complications warranting hospital referral; and
* infants with obvious congenital or chronic abnormalities that impair feeding or physical growth measurements.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Child growth [-Prevalence of stunting ][<-2SD]
timeFrame: baseline,18 month
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Jimma University
name: Abebe Gebremariam, Professor
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Jimma University
name: Alemayehu Argaw, Mr
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University Ghent
name: Lieven Huybregts, Dr
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University Ghent
name: Patrick Kolsteren, Professor
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Jimma University
name: Mulusew Gerbaba, Mr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Jimma University
name: Solomon Demeke, Professor
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Provincial university college Limburg
name: Joep Grosemans, Mr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Jimma University
name: Amanuel Tesfay, Mr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: