Impact Evaluation of a Social Franchise Model for Improving Infant and Young Child Feeding and Child Nutrition in Vietnam

February 29, 2016 updated by: International Food Policy Research Institute

Impact Evaluation of a Social Franchise Model Implemented by Alive & Thrive for Improving Infant and Young Child Feeding and Child Nutrition in Rural Vietnam

Alive & Thrive is an initiative that aims to improve infant and young child feeding practices and reduce childhood stunting. In Vietnam, Alive & Thrive's primary intervention is implemented through a social franchise linked with the government's health system. The impact evaluation is conducted using a cluster-randomized design in which 20 commune health centers (CHC) were assigned to the social franchise model, and 20 CHC were assigned to routine government services. Repeated cross-sectional baseline and endline surveys will be used to assess the public health impact of this intervention. The baseline was in 2010 and an endline survey in the same communities will be conducted in 2014. Mixed methods process evaluation will be conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2013 to study the pathways through which the program impact is achieved.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Link provided to journal manuscript describing design of evaluation provides additional detail: http://fnb.sagepub.com/content/34/3_suppl2/S195.full.pdf

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

4000

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Vietnam
      • Hanoi, Vietnam
        • Alive & Thrive & International Food Policy Research Institute

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 5 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children 0-60 months of age

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Comparison area, only standard government services
This intervention arm will receive the standard government services offered at CHCs all over Vietnam. In addition, participants in this arm will be exposed to the nationwide mass media campaign.
Behavioral: Standard government health services
This intervention will be basic preventive and curative health services provided by the commune health centers. This includes antenatal care, postnatal care and basic nutrition related counseling.
Behavioral: Mass media campaign
Alive & Thrive is implementing a nationwide mass media campaign in 2011, 2012 and 2013, with a focus on improving breastfeeding practices. The mass media intervention includes TV and radio spots as well as an internet site and a telephone hotline.
Experimental: A&T Franchise
In this arm, the 20 CHCs will offer Alive & Thrive branded franchise services with enhanced quality of IYCF counseling through interpersonal contact between health workers at the commune level and clients who use the commune health services. In addition, the clients could also be exposed to the mass media campaign.
Behavioral: Standard government health services
This intervention will be basic preventive and curative health services provided by the commune health centers. This includes antenatal care, postnatal care and basic nutrition related counseling.
Behavioral: Mass media campaign
Alive & Thrive is implementing a nationwide mass media campaign in 2011, 2012 and 2013, with a focus on improving breastfeeding practices. The mass media intervention includes TV and radio spots as well as an internet site and a telephone hotline.
Behavioral: Alive & Thrive IYCF franchise services
This intervention includes intensive behavioral counseling to improve infant and young child feeding. A package of 15 counseling contacts that are quality assured and branded will be offered to families of infants and young children. Services might also include user fees.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Exclusive breastfeeding among children 0-6 months of age
Time Frame: 4 years
Exclusive breastfeeding in children 0-6 months of age is one of the eight WHO-recommended IYCF core indicators will be measured to capture breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. It is measured using survey based recall by interviewing mothers of children in the age group for the indicator.
4 years
Child heights and weights (children 24-60 months of age)
Time Frame: 4 years
Heights and weights of children in the intervention and comparison communes covered by the CHCs in the study will be assessed in 2014. A new sample of children 24-60 months will be measured in the repeated cross-sectional endline survey to measure these outcomes and compute height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores based on the WHO growth reference standards.
4 years
Complementary feeding for children 6-23.9 months of age
Time Frame: 4 years
Indicators of complementary feeding - diet diversity, minimum acceptable diet, and minimum meal frequency, measured in children 6-23.9 months of age are one of the eight WHO-recommended IYCF core indicators will be measured to capture breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. These are measured using survey based recall by interviewing mothers of children in the age group for the indicator.
4 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Early initiation of breastfeeding in children 0-24 months of age
Time Frame: 4 years
Early initiation of breastfeeding (in the first hour after birth) is measured in children 0-23.9 months of age and it is one of the eight WHO-recommended IYCF core indicators will be measured to capture breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. These are measured using survey based recall by interviewing mothers of children in the age group for the indicator. Samples for children 0-6 months and 6-23.9 are combined to calculate this indicator
4 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

International Food Policy Research Institute

Collaborators

FHI 360

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Purnima Menon, PhD, International Food Policy Research Institute
  • Principal Investigator: Rahul Rawat, PhD, International Food Policy Research Institute
  • Principal Investigator: Phuong Nguyen, PhD, International Food Policy Research Institute
  • Principal Investigator: Marie T Ruel, PhD, International Food Policy Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 29, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 29, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

August 31, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 2, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 29, 2016

Last Verified

February 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IFPRI-S-01 (2)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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