TY - JOUR
T1 - The association between exposure to a radio campaign on nutrition and mothers’ nutrition- and health-related attitudes and minimal acceptable diet of children 6–36 months old
T2 - a quasi-experimental trial
AU - Appiah, Bernard
AU - Saaka, Mahama
AU - Appiah, George
AU - Asamoah-Akuoko, Lucy
AU - Samman, Elfreda
AU - Forastiere, Laura
AU - Abu, Brenda A.Z.
AU - Yeboah-Banin, Abena A.
AU - Kretchy, Irene A.
AU - Ntiful, Freda D.
AU - Nsiah-Asamoah, Christiana N.A.
AU - Ahmed, Md Koushik
AU - France, Christopher R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2024.
PY - 2024/11/21
Y1 - 2024/11/21
N2 - Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a radio campaign involving serial 10-minute drama episodes, 10-minute on air discussion of each episode by trained community health workers and 30-minute phone-ins from listeners in improving mothers’ nutrition- and health-related attitudes (HNRAs) and children’s minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Design: A two-arm quasi-experimental trial with a pre-post design was used to quantify the effect of a radio campaign on nutrition before and immediately after the 6-month intervention. Difference-in-difference (DID) analysis was performed to assess the intervention’s effect. Setting: Saboba district (intervention) and Central Gonja (comparison district) of northern region of Ghana. Participants: At baseline, a total of 598 mothers with children aged 6–22 months were randomly selected from the intervention (n 298) and control (n 300) districts. At endline (6 months post-intervention), 252 mother–child dyads in the intervention district and 275 mother–child dyads in the control district were followed up. Results: The radio campaign was significantly and positively associated with a change in health- and nutrition-related attitudes (HNRA) over time, with DID in mean attitudes significantly improving more over time in the intervention district than the control (DID = 1·398, P < 0·001). Also, the prevalence of MAD over time in the intervention district was significantly higher than the control district (DID = 16·1 percentage points, P = 0·02) in the presence of food insecurity. Conclusions: The study indicates that a radio campaign on nutrition is associated with improved mothers’ HNRA and children’s MAD. Communication interventions on child nutrition targeting low-resource settings should consider this innovative approach.
AB - Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a radio campaign involving serial 10-minute drama episodes, 10-minute on air discussion of each episode by trained community health workers and 30-minute phone-ins from listeners in improving mothers’ nutrition- and health-related attitudes (HNRAs) and children’s minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Design: A two-arm quasi-experimental trial with a pre-post design was used to quantify the effect of a radio campaign on nutrition before and immediately after the 6-month intervention. Difference-in-difference (DID) analysis was performed to assess the intervention’s effect. Setting: Saboba district (intervention) and Central Gonja (comparison district) of northern region of Ghana. Participants: At baseline, a total of 598 mothers with children aged 6–22 months were randomly selected from the intervention (n 298) and control (n 300) districts. At endline (6 months post-intervention), 252 mother–child dyads in the intervention district and 275 mother–child dyads in the control district were followed up. Results: The radio campaign was significantly and positively associated with a change in health- and nutrition-related attitudes (HNRA) over time, with DID in mean attitudes significantly improving more over time in the intervention district than the control (DID = 1·398, P < 0·001). Also, the prevalence of MAD over time in the intervention district was significantly higher than the control district (DID = 16·1 percentage points, P = 0·02) in the presence of food insecurity. Conclusions: The study indicates that a radio campaign on nutrition is associated with improved mothers’ HNRA and children’s MAD. Communication interventions on child nutrition targeting low-resource settings should consider this innovative approach.
KW - Health
KW - Minimum acceptable diet
KW - Nutrition education
KW - Radio campaign
KW - nutrition attitudes
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U2 - 10.1017/S1368980024001319
DO - 10.1017/S1368980024001319
M3 - Article
C2 - 39569901
AN - SCOPUS:85210340333
SN - 1368-9800
VL - 27
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
IS - 1
M1 - e232
ER -