Cultural and contextual considerations in designing programs to support the incorporation of early childhood development within ongoing national nutrition programmes: A focus on the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) in a rural African context

The Baby Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) offers a unique platform for integration of counselling on early childhood development (ECD) with existing maternal and child health and nutrition messages. To understand how to efficiently deliver such a program, this study determined the feasibility of integrating counselling on child stimulation into the Kenyan BFCI activities. Qualitative interviews (N=97) among female (aged 15-49 years) and male users, stakeholders, and services providers in Koibatek sub-County (mainly inhabited by the Tugen people, a Nilotic group in sub-Saharan Africa) provided extensive information on understanding regarding ECD, caregiving beliefs, needs at different levels and barriers and facilitators. Contextual influences and existing health system infrastructure are important considerations when designing integrated interventions to improve nurturing care of children.

Nutrition integrated agricultural extension—a case study in Western Kenya

Summary Integrating nutrition communication in agricultural intervention programs aimed at increased food availability and accessibility in resource-poor areas is crucial. To enhance the sustainability and scalability of nutrition communication, the present study piloted the approach of ‘nutrition integrated agricultural extension’ and tested nutrition-related outcomes with two types of nutrition messages (specific vs. sensitive) and two delivery channels (public sector vs. private sector). The study intervention comprised (i) vegetable seed kit distribution, (ii) ongoing agricultural extension activities by public or private sectors and (iii) nutrition communication with two different messages. The intervention was tested with three treatment arms and reached 454 farmers (>65% female) in rural Kakamega County, Western Kenya. Pre-/post-surveys measured outcome variables focused on farmers’ nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and practices in vegetable production and consumption, and household dietary diversity score. Results showed that all treatments increased nutrition knowledge (p < 0.05). Nutrition-specific communication was more effective than nutrition-sensitive communication. Nutrition communication through either the public or the private agricultural sector was both effective. Before the study intervention, many participants believed that vegetable consumption was beneficial and wanted to increase intake. After the intervention, the number of participants who felt eating more vegetables was challenging decreased slightly. Nutrition communication was found to be especially important in conveying recommended food amounts and promoting increased vegetable consumption. Seasonality affected on-farm crop diversity and vegetable consumption results in this study.

Nutrition Knowledge, Dietary Pattern, and Nutritional Status of Elementary Students in Makassar City

Elementary school children are a vulnerable group to nutritional problems. Malnutrition is generally caused by poverty, lack of food supplies, poor environmental quality, lack of public knowledge about nutrition, a balanced diet, and health. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between balanced nutrition knowledge, dietary pattern, and nutritional status of children in Sekolah Dasar Islam Terpadu (SDIT) Makassar, Indonesia. The population in this study were all students in grades 4 and 5 with a total sample of 94 people. The results showed that there was no relationship between balanced nutrition knowledge and nutritional status (P = 0.397) and there was no relationship between diet pattern and nutritional status (P = 0.662) children at SDIT Makassar. Researchers recommend a Balanced Nutrition Ambassador program in every school. Ambassadors of Balanced Nutrition will be trained related to balanced nutrition and is responsible for disseminating balanced nutrition messages to their friends and their family

The Perceptions and Needs of French Parents and Pediatricians Concerning Information on Complementary Feeding

Appropriate complementary feeding (CoF) is the key to preventing childhood obesity and promoting long-term health. Parents must be properly informed through the CoF process. Pediatricians have opportunities to interact with parents during the CoF transition and influence parental feeding decisions. They can convey public health nutrition messages to parents. With the release of new CoF recommendations in France in 2019, and from the perspective of their conversion into official public health communication material, the aim of this study was to explore parents’ and pediatricians’ perceptions and needs regarding information on CoF. Two online surveys were disseminated to gather information on CoF communication and guidance: one for parents (n = 1001, January 2020); one for pediatricians (n = 301, October 2019). The results showed that the importance of CoF for children’s healthy growth was well recognized by both parents and pediatricians. Parents acknowledged pediatricians as the most influential source of advice; and pediatricians were aware of their responsibility in counselling parents on CoF. However, pediatricians neglected the fact that parents gave high trust to their personal network when looking for advice. The Internet was a well-recognized source of information according to all. Diverging from what pediatricians considered useful, parents were interested in practical advice for implementing CoF. This study highlights common expectations and points of divergence between parents’ needs and pediatricians’ perceptions of those needs with regard to CoF information.

Testing the Effect of a Brief, Online and Tailored Intervention on Dietary Behaviors of Australian Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives Using technology, nutrition messages can be tailored to individuals, which may enhance the effectiveness of online dietary behavior interventions. The study objective was to test whether a brief, online intervention using tailored nutrition messaging, supported by behavior change techniques, is more effective than a brief, online intervention using generic messages, in reducing discretionary choices (energy dense, nutrient poor foods and beverages) intake in a sample of Australian adults. Methods A two armed randomized controlled trial was conducted from September to December 2019. The intervention group received two e-mails containing tailored nutrition messages, supported by behavior change techniques, over a 28 day period. The control group received similar e-mails using generic messages. Sociodemographic and dietary data were collected using a validated Short Food Survey at baseline and at follow-up. Statistical analysis used ANCOVA. Results Final analysis included 1441 Australian adults, of which 77.3% were female, with a mean age of 50.8 (SD = 16.0) and Body Mass Index of 28.2 (SD = 6.3). There was no significant difference between delivering tailored or generic messages via e-mail, on discretionary choice intake at follow-up, after controlling for baseline discretionary choice intake (P = .49). Regardless of intervention group allocation, there was a decrease in mean intake of discretionary choices from baseline to follow-up (M = 4.2, SD = 3.9 vs. M = 3.1, SD = 4.0, respectively, P < .001), with a small to medium effect (Cohen's d = .28). Conclusions The primary outcome of the study was discretionary choice intake after a 28 day brief, online intervention using tailored or generic messaging. The intervention was able to significantly reduce discretionary choice intake, however, the impact was not significantly enhanced by tailoring the intervention message. Other forms of tailoring or the inclusion of additional intervention features should be investigated to further enhance intervention effectiveness in future research. Funding Sources The presented work had financial support from Flinders University through a research scholarship, and from CSIRO, Healthy Development Adelaide and the Commonwealth Scholarships Program through top-up scholarships.

Measuring and Leveraging Motives and Values in Dietary Interventions

Why measure and leverage food motives and values? Every failure and every success in dietary change can be connected to motivation. Therefore, this research question naturally arises: How can food motives and values be measured and leveraged to improve diet outcomes from the individual to populations? There are four ways that food motives and values (FMVs) can assist researchers and health professionals. First, FMVs can help to create a personalized approach to dietary change. Second, FMVs can inform content for dietary interventions. Third, these FMV measures can be used in data analysis to elucidate differences in adherence and outcomes among participants. Fourth, public health nutrition messages can be tailored using information on FMVs. Each of these uses has the potential to further the literature and inform future efforts to improve diet. A central aim of our study is to provide specific examples and recommendations on how to measure and leverage FMVs. To do so, we reviewed 12 measures included in the literature citing the Food Choice Questionnaire by Steptoe, Pollard, and Wardle, which was identified as the earliest, highly cited article appearing under the search terms “food motives” AND “food values” AND “eating behavior” AND “measure”. Specific details on how articles were selected from the citing literature are described in the Methods section. We also expound on our reasoning for including the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, which made for 13 measures in total. Our main finding is that each measure has strengths and shortcomings to consider in using FMVs to inform nutritional recommendations at different levels.

Education on the Fulfillment of Balanced Nutrition and My Plate Contents for Students of SMPN 7 Kendari

To achieve optimal nutritional status, a country needs guidelines for balanced nutrition. One of the visualizations of balanced nutrition messages is 'My Dinner Plate' which shows the serving of food and drinks at each meal. The purpose of this service program is to provide information and knowledge about the fulfillment of balanced nutrition and the contents of my plate to adolescents, especially students of SMPN 7 Kendari. The target of this program is students of SMPN 7 Kendari, especially those in Class VII. This program consists of counseling through power points and videos on general guidelines for balanced nutrition and the contents of my plate, discussions and questions and answers, and distributing pre-post questionnaires. The results of this activity were as many as 44 students as respondents consisting of 31.8% male students and 68.2% female students. The mean knowledge of the sample before the extension was 4.50 with a standard deviation of 1.535. Meanwhile, after counseling, the average sample knowledge increased to 7.64 with a standard deviation of 1.293. The results of statistical tests showed that the value of p = 0.000 where the value of p = <0.05, it can be concluded that there is an effect of counseling on the fulfillment of balanced nutrition and the contents of my plate. There needs to be further counseling and mentoring activities so that the knowledge gained can be applied in daily life.

The Influence of Nutrition Education on the Health of Women in Moyamba Town, Southern Region of Sierra Leone

The research work investigated the influence of nutrition education on the health of women in Moyamba town. The investigation adopted a descriptive design of a survey in this town. The study used a target sample population of twenty-five (25) women, lactating mothers, five (5) pregnant women, elderly five (5), aged women five (5). Adolescent five (5). Random sampling technique were used to select these women at various areas, schools, ante natal, post-natal clinics and outpatient department. Questionnaires were administered and interviews conducted. The result analyzed reveled that, tradition, poverty, negligence and inadequate logistics, illiteracy and other social factors such as poor education on good health leads to the risk of nutrition disorders in women such as mal-nutrition, diabetics, obesity, underweight, overweight, heart failure, complicated labour and infant and maternal mortality. another factor was Lack of proper nutrition education in schools. Nutritionist should be given special allowance in order to motivate them. Facilitate nutrition education at clinics, hospital radio and television discussions, postal and sign board with nutrition messages to the public as well as school , administrators should make it a point of duty that students are exposed to nutrition messages and that food and nutrition be a core subject in schools in other to prevent diet related diseases. This will enhance healthy environment and nation.

Perbedaan Pengetahuan dan Perilaku Membaca Label Pangan Antara Mahasiswa Prodi Gizi dan Non Gizi Di Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Baiturrahim Jambi

The behavior of reading food labels is one of the Balanced Nutrition Messages. How to find out the safety of packaged food to be purchased by looking at food labels, but awareness of the importance of reading labels is still low. Nutrition students at STIKes Baiturrahim obtained courses related to food labeling and to make conclusions about the extent to which nutrition students understand and practice food labels, then a comparison group was made of non-nutrition students. The aim of this study was to found the differences in knowledge and behavior in reading food labels between nutrition and non-nutrition students at STIKes Baiturrahim.This study used a cross sectional study design that was conducted at STIKes Baiturrahim Jambi in May 2019. The research respondents were final year students at STIKes Baiturrahim from a group of 70 nutrition and non-nutrition students with a purposive sampling technique. Data collection uses a questionnaire about knowledge about food labels and food label reading behavior. Data were then analyzed using the Mann Whitney test for food label knowledge and the Independent Sample t-test for reading food label behavior. The results showed that there were no differences in knowledge and behavior in reading food labels between nutrition and non-nutrition students with p-values of each variable 0,203 and 0,554. For further research, it can be continued with the same or different variables by taking a variable on one of the food label information that is on food packaging with a more in-depth research method (qualitative).