Trial reportMaternal & child nutrition2026
Effect of Dala-Led Behavior Change Communication on Complementary Feeding Practices in Infants and Young Children: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Agro-Pastoral Settings of Afar Region, Ethiopia.
Trial report in Maternal & child nutrition, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Suboptimal complementary feeding remains a major public health concern in Ethiopia, particularly among pastoralist and agro-pastoral communities where mobile livelihoods hinder access to conventional health services. In these settings, numerous studies have highlighted the potential of leveraging culturally embedded leadership structures to enhance health promotion efforts. This study examined whether engaging traditional Dala leaders as agents of Nutrition Behavior Change Communication (DALA-BCC) could improve complementary feeding indicators among infants and young children in the agro-pastoral areas of northern Ethiopia. A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted in Dubti District, Afar Region, involving 16 non-adjacent clusters randomly assigned to intervention and control arms (eight each). A total of 474 mother-infant pairs (237 per arm) were enrolled at 6-17 months of age and followed over 6 months. Over a 6-month period, the intervention group received DALA-BCC delivered by Dala leaders, consisting of monthly group sessions and cooking demonstrations during the first 3 months, followed by home-based individualized counseling from Month 3 to Month 6, while the control group continued usual care. Core infant and young child feeding (IYCF) indicators were measured at baseline and endline. At end line, the intervention group achieved higher rates of minimum dietary diversity (MDD) (39.7% vs. 24.7%; p = 0.001), minimum meal frequency (MMF) (67.9% vs. 47.6%; p < 0.001), and minimum acceptable diet (MAD) (28.6% vs. 12.1%; p < 0.001). Generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis showed significant time × group interactions, indicating greater improvements in the intervention group for MDD (RR = 2.43; 95% CI: 1.35-4.39), MMF (RR = 2.08; 95% CI: 1.25-3.48), and MAD (RR = 2.35; 95% CI: 1.10-5.04). The findings demonstrate that the DALA-BCC intervention significantly improved complementary feeding practices, highlighting the effectiveness of culturally grounded, community-led nutrition strategies in Agro-pastoral settings.
trial registrationPACTR202311816542918. Registered 10 November 2023.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.