Effectiveness of an educational intervention on complementary feeding practices and growth in rural China: a cluster randomised controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
Inappropriate complementary feeding is one of the major causes of malnutrition in young children in developing countries. We developed an educational intervention, delivered by local health-care providers, aimed at improving complementary feeding practices and child nutrition.


METHODS
Eight townships in Laishui, a rural area in China, were randomly assigned to the educational intervention or control group. A total of 599 healthy infants were enrolled at age 2-4 months and followed up until 1 year of age. In the intervention group, educational messages and enhanced home-prepared recipes were disseminated to caregivers through group trainings and home visits. Questionnaire surveys and anthropometric measurements were taken at baseline and ages 6, 9 and 12 months. Analysis was by intention to treat.


RESULTS
It was found that food diversity, meal frequency and hygiene practices were improved in the intervention group. Infants in the intervention group gained 0.22 kg more weight (95 % CI 0.003, 0.45 kg, P = 0.047) and gained 0.66 cm more length (95 % CI 0.03, 1.29 cm, P = 0.04) than did controls over the study period.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from the study suggest that an educational intervention delivered through local health-care providers can lead to substantial behavioural changes of caregivers and improve infant growth.
Shi
Ling
L
College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA. ling.shi@umb.edu
Zhang
Jingxu
J
Wang
Yan
Y
Caulfield
Laura E
LE
Guyer
Bernard
B
D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education*; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006128:Growth; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000193:education*; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires