The Impact of a Large-Scale Social and Behavior Change Communication Intervention in the Lake Zone Region of Tanzania on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Stunting Prevention

Kirk Dearden, Generose Mulokozi, Mary Linehan, Dennis Cherian, Scott Torres, Joshua West, Benjamin Crookston and Cougar Hall ()
Additional contact information
Kirk Dearden: Corus International/IMA World Health, 1730 M St NW #1100, Washington, DC 20036, USA
Generose Mulokozi: Corus International/IMA World Health, Nyalali Curve, Plot 1657, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 9260, Tanzania
Mary Linehan: Corus International/IMA World Health, 1730 M St NW #1100, Washington, DC 20036, USA
Dennis Cherian: Corus International/IMA World Health, 1730 M St NW #1100, Washington, DC 20036, USA
Scott Torres: RTI International, 701 13th St NW #750, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Joshua West: Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, LSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Benjamin Crookston: Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, LSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Cougar Hall: Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, LSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Background: Large-scale social and behavioral change communication (SBCC) approaches can be beneficial to achieve improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). Addressing Stunting in Tanzania Early (ASTUTE) included a significant SBCC component and targeted precursors to stunting including KAP related to maternal and child health, antenatal care, WASH, childhood development, and male involvement. METHODS: Baseline, midline, and endline surveys were conducted for a total of 14,996 female caregivers and 6726 male heads of household in the Lake Zone region of Tanzania. Regression analyses were used to estimate differences in KAP from baseline to midline and endline. Results: Women’s knowledge of handwashing and infant/child feeding practices, and attitudes related to male involvement, consistently improved from baseline to midline and baseline to endline. Women’s practices related to antenatal care, breastfeeding, and early child development improved from baseline to midline and baseline to endline. Improvements in KAP among male heads of household were varied across indicators with consistent improvement in practices related to child feeding practices from baseline to midline and baseline to endline. Conclusion: Many changes in KAP were observed from baseline to midline and baseline to endline and corresponded with SBCC programming in the region. These results provide support for the value of large SBCC interventions. Public health efforts in settings such as Tanzania may benefit from adopting these approaches.

Keywords: SBCC; Tanzania; stunting; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1214/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1214/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1214-:d:1030622

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().