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Tools to Improve Parental Recognition of Developmental Deficits in Children

NCT02242539 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 547

Last updated 2016-01-13

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

In this study, we aim to improve child nutrition by increasing parents' awareness of their children's physical growth. We use a cluster-randomized trial design to evaluate two interventions that provide parents with regular information on their children's physical development and growth: 1) distribution of full-sized growth charts for measurement of child height within households; and 2) organization of community-based meetings, during which children's height and weight are measured by trained project staff.

Conditions

  • Malnutrition
  • Child Development

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Height measurement poster

Each household is provided with a poster which study personnel help to hang on the wall. The poster clearly indicates height-for-age benchmarks and stunting cut-offs for study-age children. Parents are provided training on how to measure their children at regular intervals, and interpret height readings to determine whether their child is developing normally or is stunted.

BEHAVIORAL

Community-based monitoring

Once every three months, villages are visited by study staff who measure children's heights and weights, and parents are informed if their children are below the reference measures established by the World Health Organization. If a child's weight is such that the child is classified as severely malnourished, the child is referred to the nearest health center for treatment. If the child is stunted (height-for-age z-score more than 2 standard deviations below the reference median), we provide parents with a supply of "Yummy Soy" powder, a fortified soy and maize mix popular among parents and widely available in local super markets. Parents are instructed to give one or two tea spoons of the mix to the child each day.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Harvard University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Innovations for Poverty Action

    collaborator OTHER

  • Boston University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Günther Fink, PhD · Harvard University

  • Peter Rockers, ScD · Boston University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
6 Months
Max Age
18 Months
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2014-09-30
Primary Completion
2015-09-30
Completion
2015-09-30

Countries

  • Zambia

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Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02242539 on ClinicalTrials.gov