Study area, design and Period
A community-based cross-sectional study design was from April 11, 2023 to May 20, 2023, in rural south west Ethiopia. The estimation population in this area is 46843, of which 22156 were males and 24687 were females and the total estimation number of children under two years were 2469. Major food crops in this area include maize, godere (taro root), and enset, while sorghum, teff, wheat, and barley are grown in significant quantities. Although cattle, sheep and poultry are produced in limited quantities, meat and milk are highly valued. Cash crops include fruits (bananas, pineapples, oranges) and spices (e.g. coriander and ginger); Honey is also an important local source. However, coffee is the most important source of income.
Source population and study population
The source population were all children aged 6 to 23 months live with their mothers/caregivers in the rural south west Ethiopia and the study population consisted of all mothers or caregivers with infants aged 6 to 23 months enrolled in the study from the study area.
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion criteria: All children aged 6 to 23 months who had lived in the study area for at least the last 6 months were included.
Exclusion criteria: Seriously ill mothers/careers and mothers/careers with hearing impairments.
Sample Size Determination
Sample size was determined by using single and double population proportion formula and the largest sample size was taken.
A single population proportion was used the following assumption P= 42.3%(14),
Z = 95% confidence level 1.96, d = 0.05,
N= (1.96)2 (0.423) (1-0.423) / (0.05)2 = 375, including 10% of non–response rates and 1.5 design effect. N= 620.
Also double population proportion formula was used the following assumption Two-sided confidence level of 95%; Power of 80; 0.5 margins of error; and 10% of contingency non-response rate by using Epi Info Version 7 statistical software. See table 1
Table 1: Sample size calculation using different variables associated with Optimal DD.
Variables
|
Proportions of
Dietary diversity
|
Level of confidence
|
Power
|
Exposed to the unexposed ratio
|
AOR
|
Design effect (1.5)
|
Non-response rate
|
Sample size
|
Reference
|
Availability of Media
|
Yes
|
P1=33.6%
|
95%
|
80
|
1
|
3.22
|
1.5
|
10
|
316
|
(15)
|
No
|
P2=10.4%
|
GMP
|
Yes
|
P1 =74%
|
95%
|
80
|
1
|
2.7
|
1.5
|
10
|
314
|
(16)
|
No
|
P2 =17.8%
|
PNC follow up
|
Yes
|
P1 =67%
|
95%
|
80
|
1
|
2.1
|
1.5
|
10
|
587
|
(16)
|
no
|
P2=14
%
|
Finally 620 was taken the sample size for this study which were the largest sample to get representative study population.
Sampling Procedure and Techniques
Giedi Bench district was randomly selected from the south west Ethiopia regime and three rural kebeles (the small administrative unit of Ethiopia), namely Taste, Giedi Bench and Berehan Shay, were randomly selected. For each Keble, the sample size was assigned proportionally to the total number of children aged 6 to 23 months living in the study area. Households with at least one child (aged 6 to 23 months) were identified and coded and sample frames were formed. If there are more than children of the same age in the selected households (children aged 6 to 23 months) one was selected by lottery method.
Finally, study participants were identified from each selected Keble using a systematic random sampling method. The first respondent is selected using the lottery method, and subsequent respondents are determined using the sampling interval (k).
Operational Definition
Minimum dietary diversity : UNICEF and WHO define minimum dietary diversity as the percentage of children aged 6 to 23 months who consumed food and drink from at least five out of eight defined food groups in the previous day/24 hours. Then, meet dietary diversity is defined as consuming foods from at least five different food groups when optimal dietary diversity exists and when fewer than 5 food groups are considered unmeet MDD(3).
Minimum meal frequency: At least as often as the day before, the child is given solid, semi-solid or soft food (but also milk for children who are not breastfed). The minimum frequency is: 2 times for breastfed children aged 6 to 8 months, 3 times for breastfed children aged 9 to 23 months and 4 times for non-breastfed children aged 6 to 23 months(17).
Food Security: Households that do not have any of the conditions for food insecurity (access) or are only concerned but have rarely been classified as food secure in the past four weeks, or households with food secure diets that had fewer than the first two indicators of food insecurity(18,19).
Data Collection Tools and Procedures.
Data was collected by 10 health professionals and supervised by two individuals.
A structured and pre-tested questioner was used to collect the required information by face to face interviewing mother/ care givers and measuring the anthropometric measurement of children aged between 6-23 months.
The questionnaire covers children's socio-demographic characteristics, economic status, use of child and maternal health services, agricultural output, and household food security status.
Household food security status nine questions that quantify occurrence and frequency. It is measured using nine questions representing increasing degrees of severity and nine frequency-of-occurrence questions asking about changes in diet or food consumption behavior that households have made in the past 30 days due to limited resources. Participants received a score between 0 and 27 based on their answers to nine questions and the number of times they occurred over the past 30 days. A lower HFIAS score indicates better access to food and lower household food insecurity, while a high HFIAS score indicates a lack of food access and lack of food insecurity, adapted from previous literatures and FANTA(19).
Data on dietary diversity was collected using the WHO indicators to assess IYCF practices(5). Data on dietary diversity was collected using a 24-hour recall procedure; That is, mothers are asked to remember any foods given to their child in the 24 hours prior to the survey. The foods consumed were then divided into eight food groups: grain, tubers and roots; legumes and nuts; Fruits and vegetables; foods rich in vitamin A; eggs; meat and dairy products. Good dietary diversity is considered good for children who eat foods from 5 food groups.
Household wealth status was assessed after data collection of all household assets using the adapted EDHS instruments(12).
Data Quality Control
To assure data quality the following measure were taken: the questionnaire was prepared in English and then translated into Amharic by language expert and then back into English to check for consistency by the individual who was blind to the original version, Before data collection began, a pre-test was performed on 5% of not selected in to study area, Data collectors are trained and every step is tracked and monitored; the completeness of the questioner was checked on site and during data entry and the data collected are entered and verified using Epi-Data software version 3.1. Every effort is made to improve mothers' recall skills, and face-to-face interviews are conducted in a separate, private area to avoid social desirability and memory bias.
Data Processing and Analysis
The collected data was reviewed daily for completeness. Following that, every completed questionnaire was given a unique code, interred into EPI-DATA, and exported to IBM SPSS version 27 for analysis.
Descriptive analysis was used to investigate the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, and the findings were reported in frequency tables.
The outcome variable was recoded as either "sub-optimal" or "optimal dietary diversity". Those with acceptable dietary diversities were coded "1", whereas those with suboptimal dietary diversities were marked "0".
We created the family wealth index data using the principal component analysis approach and then computed the composite score. Finally, the household wealth quintiles were determined by assigning a household score to each household, rating each household in the community based on their score, and dividing the distribution into three equal categories: poor, middle, and rich.
The household Food Insecurity Access Scale was used to determine if a household was food insecure or not.
The Dietary Diversity (DDs) status of children aged 6-23 months was assessed by comparing the proportion of children who fed fewer than five main food categories to those who fed five or more major food groups out of eight food groups. Children who were fed less than five of the major food categories were considered to have suboptimal dietary variety.
The multicollinearity effect was assessed using the standard error. Only non-collinear variables were used in binary logistic regression to determine the potential relationship between each independent and dependent variable. Factors having a P-value ≤0.25 in bivariate analyses were selected for additional analyses using multiple logistic regressions to account all possible confounders and find factors substantially linked with the outcome variable. The study's model fitness was assessed using the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test. The study found statistically significant associations with adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) at P values ≤0.05.
Ethical Considerations
This study adhered to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Mizan-Tepi University Institutional Health Research Ethics Review Committee (IHRERC) IRB 032/23. Additionally, a permission letter was acquired from Mizan-Tepi University and submitted to the regional health office. Voluntary written informed consent and signed informed consent was obtained from each child's mother or caregiver after a thorough explanation of the study's purpose, procedures, duration, and potential risks and benefits within the manuscript.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyses during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.