Philani Home-based Nutrition Intervention Program

Phase 2

Completed

• Conditions: Child Weight
• Interventions: Behavioral: Philani nutrition intervention program (mentor mothers)

• Registration Number: NCT00995592
• Lead Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles

Brief Summary

Malnourished children and babies with birth weights under 2500 grams are at high risk for negative outcomes over their lifespan. Philani, a paraprofessional home-visiting program, was mounted in neighborhoods in three townships in Cape Town, South Africa, from 2002 to 2004 to improve nutritional outcomes.

One mentor mother was recruited from each of 37 neighborhoods. Mentor mothers were trained to conduct home visits to weigh children and to support mothers to problem-solve life challenges, especially around nutrition. Households were randomly assigned on a 2-to-1 ratio to the Philani program or to a standard care condition. Children were evaluated over a 1-year period.

The investigators hypothesized that children in the intervention would gain more weight than children in the control.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2002-11
• Primary Completion: 2005-07
• Study Completion: 2005-07
• Status Verified: 2009-10
• Study First Submitted: 2009-10-14
• Study First Submitted QC: 2009-10-14
• Last Update Submitted: 2009-10-14
• Study First Posted: 2009-10-15
• Last Update Posted: 2009-10-15

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 684

Inclusion Criteria

• mother or caregiver
• with child under 5 years of age and malnourished (malnourished if less than 2 standard deviations below the World Health Organization normative mean weight for the child's age

Exclusion Criteria

• no malnourished children under care
• malnourished children not living in household

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Mentor mothers	Philani nutrition intervention program (mentor mothers)	Behavioral intervention was offered through mentor mothers. Mentors were mothers in community who were selected by because they were doing well. They were trained to conduct home visits, up to 16 times over one year period, ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Mentor mothers worked to improve health of mother and their child and build social support in neighborhood.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
weight-for-age z-score	one year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
weight in kilograms	one year

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Philani Child Health and Nutrition Project; 🇿🇦 Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa

Philani Child Health and Nutrition Project, Khayelitsha; 🇿🇦 Cape Town, South Africa