Tools to Improve Parental Recognition of Developmental Deficits in Children

Boston University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Child Development; Malnutrition

Treatments: Behavioral: Community-based monitoring; Behavioral: Height measurement poster

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02242539

14-2948

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this study, we aim to improve child nutrition by increasing parents' awareness of their children's physical growth. We use a cluster-randomized trial design to evaluate two interventions that provide parents with regular information on their children's physical development and growth: 1) distribution of full-sized growth charts for measurement of child height within households; and 2) organization of community-based meetings, during which children's height and weight are measured by trained project staff.

Full description

The target population for the study will be children between the ages of 6 and 18 months at baseline living in small-scale farming households in Chipata District, Zambia. As part of a cluster-randomized trial titled "Food Constraints, Yield Uncertainty and 'Ganyu' Labor" funded by IZA-DFID (PI: G Fink), 3,100 farming households in approximately 180 rural villages in Eastern Province are currently enrolled in a two-year study, which aims at assessing the effect of food loan programs on agricultural productivity. The study described here uses the "Food Constraints" population as a sampling frame; all households enrolled in the "Food Constraints" program that have a child between 6 and 18 months are invited to participate in this add-on trial. We anticipate that there will be around 600 eligible households recruited for this study. Study duration is about 18 months. Selected households will be visited for study enrollment and a short baseline assessment in September 2014, at which time the two interventions will also be rolled out. Final impact of the interventions will be assessed one year later, in September 2015.

Enrollment: 547 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 18 months old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All households with a child between the ages of 6 and 18 months at baseline

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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547 participants in 3 patient groups

Height measurement poster

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Height measurement poster

Community-based monitoring

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Community-based monitoring

Control

No Intervention group