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: a quasi-experimental trial

Bernard Appiah, Mahama Saaka, George Appiah, Lucy Asamoah-Akuoko, Elfreda Samman, Laura Forastiere, Brenda Az Abu, Abena A. Yeboah-Banin, Irene A. Kretchy, Freda D. Ntiful, Christiana Na Nsiah-Asamoah, Md Koushik Ahmed, Christopher R. France

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e232
JournalPublic Health Nutrition
Volume27
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Nov 2024

Keywords

  • Health and nutrition attitudes
  • Minimum acceptable diet
  • Nutrition education
  • Radio campaign

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