SPOON: Sustained Program for Improving Nutrition - Guatemala

Inter-American Development Bank

Status: Completed

Conditions: Exclusive Breast Feeding; Obesity, Childhood; Stunting; Feeding Patterns

Treatments: Behavioral: SPOON behavioral change strategy; Dietary Supplement: SQ-LNS; Dietary Supplement: Micronutrient Powders

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03399617

Inter-AmericanDB Guatemala

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary goal of this study is to assess the impact of an innovative strategy to prevent undernutrition and obesity in early childhood in children 0-24 months in Guatemala. This study is designed to evaluate the impact of promoting adequate infant an young child feeding practices and the use of SQ-LNS (Small Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements) on the nutritional status of infants and young children. The study will be conducted in Baja Verapaz, Guatemala in conjunction with Fundazucar, Guatemala.

Full description

SPOON Guatemala is an innovative strategy to prevent undernutrition and obesity in children aged 0-24 months living in high-poverty areas of Guatemala. SPOON focuses on improving feeding practices for infant and young children, including exclusive breastfeeding, and promote the use of home-fortification with peanut-based SQ-LNS (small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements) through a novel behavior change strategy.

The study will recruit children between 0 and 3 months of age as well as pregnant women in the third trimester. Mothers or caregivers of eligible children will be invited to participate and a consent form obtain. Participation will start at 0-6 months and the intervention will last until children are 24 months. Participants will be randomly assigned at the community level to one of two groups: a control group and a treatment group. Participants in the control group will receive the standard services provided by their local health clinics in addition to a supply of micronutrient powders from 6-24 months of age, according to the national protocol. Participants in the treatment group will be randomly assigned at an individual level to receive two different interventions:

Treatment 1: This group will receive SQ-LNS supplement from 6-24 months and an innovative behavioral change strategy designed using ethnographic and marketing methods to promote adequate infant and young child feeding practices and the use of SQ-LNS. The strategy will be delivered to mothers or caregivers through individual home-visits, group sessions, and community mobilization activities.

Treatment 2. This group will receive micronutrient powders from 6-24 months and an innovative behavioral change strategy designed using ethnographic and marketing methods to promote adequate infant and young child feeding practices and the use of SQ-LNS. The strategy will be delivered to mothers or caregivers through individual home-visits, group sessions, and community mobilization activities.

A sample size of 500 children per group has been calculate to detect a minimum effect size of 0.2 with 95% level of significance and a 80% power for use of SQ-LNS. Additionally, a sample size of 40 communities and 500 children per group has been calculated to detect a minimum detectable effect size of 0.32 for communication.

Main outcomes include infant and young child feeding practices, height, weight, hemoglobin, prevalence of anemia, prevalence of stunting, prevalence of obesity, and weight gain rate. A baseline and final survey will be conducted to collect data for these variables, as well as sociodemographic information. Impact estimation will be done comparing the average results and the distribution of indicators between the treatment and control group. Differences of simple means and regression models including co-variables of the child's age and sex, and characteristics of the primary caregiver and household will be estimated. In addition to potential changes in indicator averages, changes in the distribution of variables will be explored under the hypothesis that the intervention might not only improve average value for a given indicator, but compress the distribution over a range of values closer to an optimal range. Changes to distributions will be checked by applying the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.

Enrollment: 1,280 patients

Sex: All

Ages: Under 3 months old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Pregnant women in the third trimester or children 3 months of age
• Living in the defined intervention areas
• Children with no chronic diseases or congenital malformations
• Not planning on moving far from the intervention area in the next 24 months

Exclusion criteria

• Children with any chronic disease or congenital malformation
• Caretakers of the children plan on moving in the next 24 months
• Children with severe acute malnutrition

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1,280 participants in 3 patient groups

Standard Care+MNPs

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will receive standard health care services provided by the Ministry of Health, including micronutrient powders (MNPs). Children 6 months old will receive 1 gram of powdered micronutrients for 60 days every 6 months until 24 months of age.

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: Micronutrient Powders

SPOON behavioral change strategy+SQ-LNS

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive Small Quantity Lipid-based Supplements (SQ-LNS) from 6-24 months and a behavioral change to promote adequate infant and young child feeding practices and the use of SQ-LNS will be delivered to mothers or caregivers. The behavioral change strategy includes individual home-visits, group sessions, and community mobilization activities. SQ-LNS consists of a 20g nutrient supplement package to be consumed daily from 6-24 of age. SQ-LNS formulation does not include sugar.

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: SQ-LNS

Behavioral: SPOON behavioral change strategy

SPOON behavioral change strategy+MNPs

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive micronutrient powders (MNPs) from 6-24 months and a behavioral change to promote adequate infant and young child feeding practices and the use of MNPs will be delivered to mothers or caregivers. The behavioral change strategy includes individual home-visits, group sessions, and community mobilization activities.

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: Micronutrient Powders

Behavioral: SPOON behavioral change strategy