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Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda

Although social support from fathers is associated with improved child feeding practices, evidence on feasible, acceptable, and effective ways to involve fathers in supporting child nutrition, including animal source food (ASF) consumption, is limited. This study was a follow-on to a trial that test...

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Autores principales: Flax, Valerie L., Ouma, Emily A., Schreiner, Mary-Ann, Ufitinema, Adeline, Niyonzima, Eugene, Colverson, Kathleen E., Galiè, Alessandra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10081762/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37027367
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283813
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author Flax, Valerie L.
Ouma, Emily A.
Schreiner, Mary-Ann
Ufitinema, Adeline
Niyonzima, Eugene
Colverson, Kathleen E.
Galiè, Alessandra
author_facet Flax, Valerie L.
Ouma, Emily A.
Schreiner, Mary-Ann
Ufitinema, Adeline
Niyonzima, Eugene
Colverson, Kathleen E.
Galiè, Alessandra
author_sort Flax, Valerie L.
collection PubMed
description Although social support from fathers is associated with improved child feeding practices, evidence on feasible, acceptable, and effective ways to involve fathers in supporting child nutrition, including animal source food (ASF) consumption, is limited. This study was a follow-on to a trial that tested the effects of social and behavior change communication (SBCC) targeted mainly at mothers to promote ASF consumption by children in households that received an exotic or crossbred cow through the government of Rwanda’s Girinka “One Cow Per Poor Family” program (NCT0345567). A delayed SBCC intervention was provided to mothers in the non-intervention arms prior to the present pre/post study, which targeted fathers in households across the trial study arms. Baseline and endline surveys with a cohort of 149 fathers with a child <5 years were used to evaluate the effects of a SBCC intervention for fathers on their children’s ASF consumption and on fathers’ knowledge, awareness, and support for children’s ASF consumption. Qualitative data collected from fathers, mothers, and program implementers were used to assess feasibility and acceptability of the intervention for fathers. The SBCC intervention comprised group meetings led by model fathers, text messages, print materials, and megaphone blasts. The odds of children consuming any type of ASF ≥2 times in the last week increased from baseline to endline (OR 4.9, 95% CI 1.9, 12.3), as did the odds consuming milk, eggs, and beef, but not fish. Fathers’ mean ASF knowledge and awareness scores increased from baseline to endline (knowledge: 2.3 to 3.5 out of 4 items, P<0.001; awareness: 2.5 to 3.0 out of 3 items, P<0.001), with the largest changes observed in knowledge of timing of introduction of milk and other ASFs. The percentage of fathers who offered two or more supportive actions for their children’s milk and other ASF consumption increased from baseline to endline (milk: 19.5% to 31.5%, P = 0.017; other ASFs: 18.8% to 37.6%, P<0.001). Fathers appreciated gaining knowledge on child nutrition in a setting specifically for men and liked the print materials that offered clear actions they could take to support their children’s ASF consumption. This study shows that an SBCC intervention for fathers can improve children’s ASF consumption and increase fathers’ knowledge, awareness, and support for children’s nutrition.
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spelling pubmed-100817622023-04-08 Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda Flax, Valerie L. Ouma, Emily A. Schreiner, Mary-Ann Ufitinema, Adeline Niyonzima, Eugene Colverson, Kathleen E. Galiè, Alessandra PLoS One Research Article Although social support from fathers is associated with improved child feeding practices, evidence on feasible, acceptable, and effective ways to involve fathers in supporting child nutrition, including animal source food (ASF) consumption, is limited. This study was a follow-on to a trial that tested the effects of social and behavior change communication (SBCC) targeted mainly at mothers to promote ASF consumption by children in households that received an exotic or crossbred cow through the government of Rwanda’s Girinka “One Cow Per Poor Family” program (NCT0345567). A delayed SBCC intervention was provided to mothers in the non-intervention arms prior to the present pre/post study, which targeted fathers in households across the trial study arms. Baseline and endline surveys with a cohort of 149 fathers with a child <5 years were used to evaluate the effects of a SBCC intervention for fathers on their children’s ASF consumption and on fathers’ knowledge, awareness, and support for children’s ASF consumption. Qualitative data collected from fathers, mothers, and program implementers were used to assess feasibility and acceptability of the intervention for fathers. The SBCC intervention comprised group meetings led by model fathers, text messages, print materials, and megaphone blasts. The odds of children consuming any type of ASF ≥2 times in the last week increased from baseline to endline (OR 4.9, 95% CI 1.9, 12.3), as did the odds consuming milk, eggs, and beef, but not fish. Fathers’ mean ASF knowledge and awareness scores increased from baseline to endline (knowledge: 2.3 to 3.5 out of 4 items, P<0.001; awareness: 2.5 to 3.0 out of 3 items, P<0.001), with the largest changes observed in knowledge of timing of introduction of milk and other ASFs. The percentage of fathers who offered two or more supportive actions for their children’s milk and other ASF consumption increased from baseline to endline (milk: 19.5% to 31.5%, P = 0.017; other ASFs: 18.8% to 37.6%, P<0.001). Fathers appreciated gaining knowledge on child nutrition in a setting specifically for men and liked the print materials that offered clear actions they could take to support their children’s ASF consumption. This study shows that an SBCC intervention for fathers can improve children’s ASF consumption and increase fathers’ knowledge, awareness, and support for children’s nutrition. Public Library of Science 2023-04-07 /pmc/articles/PMC10081762/ /pubmed/37027367 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283813 Text en © 2023 Flax et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Flax, Valerie L.
Ouma, Emily A.
Schreiner, Mary-Ann
Ufitinema, Adeline
Niyonzima, Eugene
Colverson, Kathleen E.
Galiè, Alessandra
Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda
title Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda
title_full Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda
title_fullStr Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda
title_full_unstemmed Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda
title_short Engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in Rwanda
title_sort engaging fathers to support child nutrition increases frequency of children’s animal source food consumption in rwanda
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10081762/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37027367
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283813
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