An interventional study of Information on Relative Nutritional Status and Information on Returns to Child Nutrition in Child Malnutrition, sponsored by University of Southern California. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in India. Open to female participants. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-10-17.
Sponsored by University of Southern California · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to examine the role of parental misperceptions and information gaps in contributing to poor child dietary practices and high child undernutrition rates in India. The main research questions it seeks to answer are:
The study involves an individual-level randomized controlled trial with 1500 mothers of children aged 7-24 months in Telangana, India, with two information treatment arms and one control arm. The first treatment will update mothers' beliefs on the relative height- and weight-for-age percentiles of their children, and the second will provide information on the impacts of child undernutrition on long-term health (risk of chronic and infectious diseases, mortality), education (high school test scores, years of education), and labor market (earnings) outcomes.
The treatment and control groups will be compared to assess if the information treatments improve outcomes related to child feeding practices, consumption of government-supplied therapeutic food, cognition measures, and child growth.
The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to examine the role of parental misperceptions and information gaps in contributing to poor child dietary practices and high rates of child undernutrition in India. This study is guided by two core hypotheses:
These misperceptions, if proven true, may create a suboptimal equilibrium for child nutrition outcomes, trapping families in a cycle of inadequate nutrition.
The main research questions are:
The research design involves an individual-level field experiment with 1500 mothers of children aged 7 to 24 months, with two treatment arms and a control arm:
The main outcomes of interest are - a) willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a protein supplement/food bundle for the child, measured at the end of the baseline survey, and b) beliefs on child nutrition, c) child feeding practices (frequency of meals, diet diversity, diet adequacy, protein consumption) measured through a 24-hour diet recall module, d) consumption of government-supplied therapeutic food, e) child height, weight, and anthropometric z-scores, f) child health outcomes: episodes of illness, g) household food expenditures, and h) child cognition measures, measured during the endline survey.
1,587 studies on the registry are indexed under Malnutrition; 237 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 1,542 is above the median of 90 across 1,134 interventional studies indexed under Malnutrition.
Browse Malnutrition studies →University of Southern California is the lead sponsor of 773 studies on the registry; 135 are open to participants now.
Of its 68 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 32 (47%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Provide information on the true height-for-age and weight-for-age percentiles of the child relative to a reference group of healthy children based on WHO standards
Behavioral: Information on Relative Nutritional Status
Provide information on the true height-for-age and weight-for-age percentiles of the child relative to a reference group of healthy children based on WHO standards AND provide information on the impacts of child undernutrition on health (risk of chronic and infectious diseases, mortality), education (high school test scores, years of education), and labor market (earnings) outcomes, synthesized from existing literature
Behavioral: Information on Relative Nutritional Status · Behavioral: Information on Returns to Child Nutrition
Status-quo, no intervention
The intervention involves providing information on the height-for-age and weight-for-age percentiles of children relative to a reference group of healthy children based on WHO standards
The intervention involves providing information on the effects of child undernutrition on long-term health, education, and labor market outcomes.
Average willingness-to-pay for protein-rich food bundle
All mothers who participate in the survey will be entered into a lottery to win a bundle of protein-rich food items for their child or, alternatively, a randomly chosen cash prize (amount may range from Rs. 100 to Rs. 2000). 25 lottery "winners" will be chosen randomly at the end of the baseline survey. Mothers will be asked to state their preferences between the food bundle and several potential cash prize amounts, using a multiple-price-list elicitation method. One cash prize amount will be randomly chosen for each mother, and their choice for that amount will be implemented in case they win the lottery. WTP will be measured by the mid-point of the interval of two cash amounts at which a mother switches from preferring to receive cash to preferring to receive food. Possible values range from 0 to 2000. Average willingness-to-pay will be compared between mothers in the treatment groups and the control group.
Time frame: Baseline
Difference between true and perceived height-for-age percentile relative to WHO standards
The difference between the child's true height-for-age percentile relative to the WHO reference population and the mother's perceived percentile rank. Values may range from 0 to 100.
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Difference between true and perceived weight-for-age percentile relative to WHO standards
The difference between the child's true weight-for-age percentile relative to the WHO reference population and the mother's perceived percentile rank. Values may range from 0 to 100.
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Knowledge score on returns to child nutrition (Binary)
Binary variable coded "1" if at least half the prompts (3 out of 6) about the returns to child nutrition are answered correctly, and "0" otherwise. This is a binary indicator constructed based on the knowledge score scale that may range from 0 to 6, with higher scores representing better knowledge.
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Minimum frequency of meals
Binary variable coded "1" if the child consumed the minimum recommended number of meals in the last 24 hours, based on their age, and "0" otherwise
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Minimum dietary diversity
Binary variable coded "1" if the child consumed food from at least 5 of the 8 specified food groups in the last 24 hours, and "0" otherwise. This is a binary indicator constructed based on the World Health Organization "Minimum Dietary Diversity - Infant and Young Child Feeding" (MDD-IYCF) scale. Scores may range from 0 to 8, with higher scores representing better outcomes.
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Height-for-age z-score
Height-for-age z-score at the time of the endline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Weight-for-age z-score
Weight-for-age z-score at the time of the endline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Weight-for-height z-score
Weight-for-height z-score at the time of the endline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Consumption of Balamrutham
Binary variable coded "1" if the child consumed Balamrutham (government-provided therapeutic food) in the last 24 hours, and "0" otherwise
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
CREDI child cognition scale z-score
The Caregiver-Reported Early Development Instruments (CREDI) Short Form is a validated set of 20 population-level measures of early childhood development (ECD) for children from birth to age three (0-36 months). The responses on this 20-point scale (based on age) will be converted to a norm-referenced standardized Z-score for overall development. The z-scores may range from -6 to +6, with larger scores representing better outcomes.
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Change from baseline in height-for-age z-score
Difference between height-for-age z-score between the endline survey and the baseline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Change from baseline in weight-for-age z-score
Difference between weight-for-age z-score between the endline survey and the baseline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Change from baseline in weight-for-height z-score
Difference between weight-for-height z-score between the endline survey and the baseline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Change from baseline in height
Difference between height between the endline survey and the baseline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Change from baseline in weight
Difference between weight between the endline survey and the baseline survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Episodes of illness in last 14 days (binary)
Binary variable coded "1" of the child experienced any episodes of illness in the 14 days prior to the survey
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Household food expenditure in last calendar month
Total household expenditure on food in the last calendar month
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Knowledge score on returns to child nutrition (Continuous)
The number of correctly answered prompts about the returns to child nutrition. Scores may range from 0 to 6, with higher scores representing better knowledge.
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Diet adequacy
Binary variable coded "1" if the child meets the minimum frequency of meals AND diet diversity criteria
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Grams of protein consumed in last 24 hours
Total grams of protein consumed by the child in last 24 hours
Time frame: During endline survey, an average of 4 months (or 17 weeks) from baseline
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified data will be made publicly available through an open-access repository (eg. ICPSR) after publication of the study findings.
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This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Oct 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Southern California