Impact of the intervention on caregiver–child interaction, child symptoms and child dietary intake
| Unadjusted | Adjusted* | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean at endline (SD) | ICC | OR (95% CI) | p Value | OR (95% CI) | p Value | |
| Caregiver–child interaction in last 3 days | ||||||
| Read books with child | ||||||
| Control | 0.21 (0.41) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.50 (0.50) | 0.07 | 3.71 (2.71 to 5.08) | <0.0001 | 3.58 (2.32 to 5.52) | <0.0001 |
| Told stories to child | ||||||
| Control | 0.17 (0.38) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.47 (0.50) | 0.13 | 4.31 (2.44 to 7.62) | <0.0001 | 5.61 (3.20 to 9.84) | <0.0001 |
| Sang songs with child | ||||||
| Control | 0.76 (0.43) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.90 (0.29) | 0.03 | 3.02 (1.81 to 5.05) | <0.0001 | 3.38 (1.85 to 6.18) | <0.0001 |
| Took child outside the home | ||||||
| Control | 0.52 (0.50) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.51 (0.50) | 0.07 | 0.97 (0.57 to 1.65) | 0.915 | 1.07 (0.64 to 1.80) | 0.790 |
| Played with child | ||||||
| Control | 0.77 (0.42) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.90 (0.30) | 0.02 | 2.73 (1.71 to 4.34) | <0.0001 | 2.59 (1.64 to 4.07) | <0.0001 |
| Named, counted or drew things with child | ||||||
| Control | 0.40 (0.49) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.69 (0.47) | 0.09 | 3.35 (2.23 to 5.01) | <0.0001 | 3.58 (2.41 to 5.33) | <0.0001 |
| Child symptoms in the last 2 weeks | ||||||
| Fever | ||||||
| Control | 0.44 (0.50) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.36 (0.48) | 0.00 | 0.73 (0.52 to 1.02) | 0.069 | 0.68 (0.47 to 0.98) | 0.041 |
| Diarrhoea | ||||||
| Control | 0.44 (0.50) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.35 (0.48) | 0.03 | 0.71 (0.46 to 1.08) | 0.111 | 0.65 (0.41 to 1.03) | 0.065 |
| Cough | ||||||
| Control | 0.69 (0.46) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.61 (0.49) | 0.07 | 0.70 (0.40 to 1.24) | 0.221 | 0.63 (0.36 to 1.07) | 0.089 |
| Child dietary intake in the last 24 hours | ||||||
| Breastmilk | ||||||
| Control | 0.47 (0.50) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.39 (0.49) | 0.10 | 0.70 (0.38 to 1.28) | 0.245 | 0.66 (0.35 to 1.26) | 0.209 |
| Meat | ||||||
| Control | 0.49 (0.50) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.59 (0.49) | 0.04 | 1.35 (0.86 to 2.13) | 0.197 | 1.29 (0.77 to 2.14) | 0.331 |
| Non-meat protein† | ||||||
| Control | 0.71 (0.45) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.83 (0.37) | 0.03 | 1.48 (0.96 to 2.27) | 0.075 | 1.43 (0.88 to 2.31) | 0.150 |
| Breakfast meal (maize)‡ | ||||||
| Control | 0.33 (0.47) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.26 (0.44) | 0.09 | 0.73 (0.40 to 1.32) | 0.297 | 0.66 (0.37 to 1.19) | 0.170 |
| Roller meal (maize) | ||||||
| Control | 0.87 (0.33) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.90 (0.29) | 0.01 | 1.36 (0.77 to 2.42) | 0.293 | 1.50 (0.92 to 2.44) | 0.103 |
| Unadjusted | Adjusted* | |||||
| Mean at endline (SD) | ICC | β (95% CI) | p Value | β (95% CI) | p Value | |
| Diet diversity (z-score) | ||||||
| Control | −0.16 (0.98) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Intervention | 0.16 (1.00) | 0.03 | 0.31 (0.13 to 0.50) | 0.001 | 0.24 (0.08 to 0.41) | 0.005 |
| Caregiver mental health (SRQ z-score)§ | ||||||
| Control | 0.12 (1.07) | – | – | – | ||
| Intervention | −0.12 (0.92) | 0.01 | −0.23 (−0.42 to 0.05) | 0.016 | −0.13 (−0.38 to 0.11) | 0.268 |
*Controlling for: child's age, gender, siblings, baseline HAZ, baseline WAZ, baseline WHZ, baseline motor function z-score, caregiver's age, education and baseline SRQ z-score, baseline caregiver–child interaction score, household wealth, household inhabitants and gender of household head.
†Non-meat proteins include soy, eggs, nuts and beans.
‡Breakfast meal is twice-processed maize, whereas roller meal is once-processed maize. Roller meal has been shown to have higher protein content in part because more of the maize shell is retained.
§Lower SRQ z-score indicates better mental health.
HAZ, height-for-age z-score; ICC, intracluster correlation coefficient; SB, Saving Brains Early Child Development Scale; SRQ, Self-Reporting Questionnaire; WAZ, weight-for-age z-score; WHZ, Weight-for-height z-score.