Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33355261›Full record

Trial reportBMJ global health2020

Behavioural insights to support increased consumption of quality protein maize by young children: a cluster randomised trial in Ethiopia.

Katherine Donato, Margaret McConnell, Dan Han, Nilupa S Gunaratna, Masresha Tessema, Hugo De Groote, Jessica Cohen

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMJ global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02710760 (Translating Adoption of Improved Varieties Into Nutritional Impact for Young Children), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT02710760 nacompletednot on this map

Translating Adoption of Improved Varieties Into Nutritional Impact for Young Children: An RCT Exploring Strategies to Increase Consumption of Quality Protein Maize in Ethiopia

TypeinterventionalSponsorHarvard School of Public Health (HSPH)Ran2015 to 2016Enrolled978ConditionsMalnutritionArmsAdoption Encouragement Treatment, Consumption Encouragement Treatment
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Katherine DonatoBoston Consulting Group, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Margaret McConnellGlobal Health and Population, Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA mmcconne@hsph.harvard.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-3437-3249
Dan HanLee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore.ORCID 0000-0001-8710-2218
Nilupa S GunaratnaPublic Health, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
Masresha TessemaEthiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Oromia, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0002-7155-4815
Hugo De GrooteSocioeconomics Program, CIMMYT Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya.
Jessica CohenGlobal Health and Population, Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionBiofortified crops have tremendous potential to improve child nutrition. We tested whether complementing the distribution of quality protein maize (QPM) with a package of interventions informed by behavioural insights could support greater consumption of QPM by young children and translate into improved growth.

methodsWe conducted a cluster-randomised trial in Oromia, Ethiopia. Clusters of households with a child between 6 and 35 months were randomised into an arm receiving QPM seed only (320 households, 203 clusters) or an arm receiving QPM seed and a child consumption targeting intervention (290 households, 183 clusters). The intervention package included tools to help caregivers keep QPM separate from conventional maize and to earmark QPM specifically for child consumption, as well as encouragement regarding cooking QPM specifically for young children. We analysed the impact of the intervention on food storage, cooking and consumption behaviours and on anthropometric measures (weight-for-age, height-for-age z scores).

resultsThe consumption targeting intervention increased the probability of child consumption of QPM in the past week by 17.3 percentage points (pp) (95% CI 9.4 pp to 25.1 pp; p<0.01), increased the probability that QPM flour was stored separately from conventional maize by 46.5 pp (95% CI 38.3 pp to 54.7 pp; p<0.01) and increased the probability that caregivers cooked QPM specifically for young children in the past week by 14.4 pp (95% CI 7.9 pp to 20.9 pp; p<0.01). These effects persisted, but were attenuated, 10 months postintervention. No significant effects on anthropometric outcomes were found.

conclusionsEnhancing the distribution of new, biofortified crop varieties with a consumption targeting campaign can change storage, cooking and consumption behaviours. However, these improved behaviours did not translate into increased growth in this setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02710760 and AEARCTR0000786.

Indexed as

Dietary ProteinsFamily CharacteristicsNutritional StatusZea maysChildChild, PreschoolEthiopiaFemaleHumansMalePregnancyDietary Proteinschild healthcluster randomized trialnutrition

Identifiers

PMID33355261
PMCPMC7751204

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.