Open AccessMeasuring coverage of infant and young child feeding counselling interventions: A framework and empirical considerations for survey question design
Author(s) -
Choufani Jowel,
Kim Sunny S.,
Nguyen Phuong Hong,
Heidkamp Rebecca,
GrummerStrawn Laurence,
Saha Kuntal Kumar,
Hayashi Chika,
Mehra Vrinda,
Alayon Silvia,
Me Purnima
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
maternal and child nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1740-8709
pISSN - 1740-8695
DOI - 10.1111/mcn.13001
Subject(s) - medicine , psychological intervention , breastfeeding , intervention (counseling) , scale (ratio) , data collection , survey data collection , tracking (education) , environmental health , nursing , pediatrics , psychology , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pedagogy
Most countries implement nutrition counselling interventions as part of programmes to support breastfeeding and complementary feeding. However, data to track coverage of counselling interventions are rarely available. As a result, little is known about the coverage of counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF). Survey‐based data collection systems generally collect data on IYCF practices but do not collect data on coverage of interventions to support IYCF, and those surveys that do collect this information do not do so consistently. We present a framework to guide the design of survey questions to measure IYCF counselling coverage. We provide examples of how large‐scale surveys for programme evaluation and national monitoring have included survey questions to address these data gaps. Our review suggests that elements relevant to designing survey questions to capture coverage of counselling interventions include timing of contact, target behaviour and message content, place of contact, type of service provider, frequency of contact and mode of intervention. Application of this framework may help strengthen harmonized measurement of IYCF counselling coverage to enable better tracking of programme investments, document progress in scaling up nutrition services and allow for cross‐country comparisons. Thus, improving measurement of counselling coverage may lead to improved reach of programmes to support optimal IYCF practices.