Usefulness and effectiveness of locally available food that can improve gut health using mHealth: Audio-based Intervention for Malnourished Children living in tribal settings Rajasthan (AIM-Children) (Preprint)

Abstract

Child malnutrition is a major global health problem that imposes morbidity and mortality burdens. Malnutrition has long-term effects on gut health which can affect the development of children. Gut microbes play a crucial role in the absorption of nutrients in food. Improving mothers’ awareness regarding gut health is one of the many ways to strengthen against diarrheal conditions and malnutrition among children.

The objectives of the present study are to design, develop and evaluate a mobile-based intervention to improve gut health through mHealth. The study will further explore the association between socio-demographic characteristics, health status, dietary pattern of child and Water and Sanitation Hygiene Practice (WASH) related knowledge, attitude, practices of a mother living in tribal of Sikar, Rajasthan.

A quasi-experimental randomized trial will be conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. 150 mothers of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) children will be recruited and enrolled using a non-probability complete enumeration sampling method from the Sapera, Loharu, and Banjara community of Sikar. The study participants will be randomized into two groups: Intervention (mobile linked audio-based messages); and Control group (no-mobile linked audio-based messages). Differences in the dietary pattern of children, mothers’ WASH-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices will be measured across the group. The data will be collected for the focus group, baseline, timeline 1 (after one month of the baseline) and timeline 2 (after one month of timeline 1). The study outcomes include the change in KAP of mothers pre- and post-intervention.

The study's results will help assess the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed design and development of a user-centered informatics platform that can deliver multimedia-driven nutrition and health educational modules tailored to facilitate healthy habits and improvement in gut health in children of tribal settings.

The study will provide insights toward the barriers and challenges leading to malnutrition and poor gut health of the children in tribal populations and the relationship between gut health and malnutrition in the children. We anticipate that the intervention group will show a significant change in improvement in gut health, dietary pattern, WASH practices, knowledge, attitude, and practice of mother.

Ethical approval was obtained from the UREC (University Research Ethics Committee) of DIT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India (DITU/UREC/2021/07/6).