Comparing video and poster based education for improving 6-17 months children feeding practices: a cluster randomized trial in rural Benin Video versus Poster in nutritional education

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess whether short nutrition educational videos were more effective
to improve child feeding practices compared to posters in a highly food insecure rural area in Southern
Benin. Materials and Methods: A two-arm cluster-randomized trial was implemented in two districts of the
Mono region, Benin. Over a 6 month period, eight villages received nutrition education sessions using either
short videos (n=4 villages) or posters and flyers (n=4 villages). Dietary practices were collected among 6-17
months children (n=155) before and at the end of the nutrition education program using a qualitative 24 hours
recall. UNICEF/WHO indicators for dietary diversification and meal frequency assessing were derived for
each child. The videos versus poster effect was assessed by the difference-in-differences (DID) estimator using
generalized estimated equations (GEE). Results: Overall, respectively 49% and 72% of children had achieved
Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) and Minimum Meal Frequency (MMF) at baseline. Results from DID
analysis showed that videos did not have significant advantage in terms of improving children compared to
posters neither for dietary diversity (DID = -0,036; p-value=0,651) nor for meal frequency (DID = -0,048; pvalue=
0,574). However, others factors namely children age, mother age and districts, had significant influence
on these feeding practices. Conclusions: The nutrition education program using posters and videos performed
the same in improving complementary feeding practices. The conditions of the utilisation of videos might be
improved and other factors determining children feeding practices taken into account to allow mothers and
other participants to benefit from nutrition sessions.