title: The scope and practice of behaviour change communication to improve infant and young child feeding in low- and middle-income countries: results of a practitioner study in international development organizations.
abstract: We describe features of the landscape of behaviour change communication (BCC) practice devoted to infant and young child feeding (IYCF) in low- and middle-income countries by practitioners in international development organizations. We used an iterative, snowball sampling procedure to identify participants, and the self-administered questionnaire contained pre-coded questions and open-ended questions, relying primarily on content analysis to derive generalizations. Highlights of findings include (i) IYCF-specific BCC is usually delivered within the context of other public health messages and programmes; (ii) technical assistance with programme development and implementation are primary activities, and evaluation-related work is also common; and (iii) formative research and evaluation is universal, but process evaluation is not. With respect to scaling up nutrition: (i) use of mass media and digital technology generally play only a minor role in BCC activities and are not currently an integral part of BCC programming strategies and (ii) only 58% of the participants report activities related to communication with policy makers. The individuals who comprise the community of BCC leaders in the area of IYCF are a diverse group from the perspective of academic backgrounds and nationalities. In addition to nutrition, public health, agriculture and adult learning are common disciplinary backgrounds. In our view, this diversity is a source of strength. It facilitates continuing growth and maturation in the field by assuring inputs of different perspectives, theoretical orientations and experiences.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Gretel H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Pelto
authors.affiliation: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Liere
authors.affiliation: Global Health Associates, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Cecilia S
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3221-2046
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Fabrizio
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D002662:Child Health Services; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003906:Developing Countries; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007390:International Agencies; D007391:International Cooperation; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D016730:Program Development; D011634:Public Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: BCC for child nutrition in international development organizations; behavior change communication; infant and young child feeding; practitioner perspectives on BCC