TABLE 3.
Association between participation level in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention and anthropometric outcomes of Ghanaian rural children
| Length‐for‐age/height‐for‐age z-scores | Weight‐for‐age z-scores | Weight‐for‐length/weight‐for‐height z-scores | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unadjusted (n = 406) | Adjusted (n = 398) | Unadjusted (n = 407) | Adjusted (n = 347) | Unadjusted (n = 406) | Adjusted (n = 398) | |
| Participation level1 | ||||||
| High | 0.25 (−0.13, 0.63) | 0.44 (0.16, 0.72)*** | 0.32 (−0.06, 0.70) | 0.23 (−0.08, 0.54) | 0.28 (−0.15, 0.71) | 0.12 (−0.19, 0.44) |
| Medium | 0.47 (0.10, 0.84)** | 0.40 (0.12, 0.67)** | 0.20 (−0.17, 0.56) | 0.21 (−0.10, 0.52) | −0.08 (−0.50, 0.34) | −0.02 (−0.32, 0.29) |
| Low | −0.10 (−0.48, 0.29) | −0.02 (−0.30, 0.26) | 0.04 (−0.35, 0.42) | 0.16 (−0.17, 0.48) | 0.13 (−0.31, 0.56) | 0.19 (−0.13, 0.51) |
| No participation | −0.11 (−0.54, 0.33) | 0.02 (−0.30, 0.35) | −0.19 (−0.62, 0.25) | 0.04 (−0.29, 0.37) | −0.18 (−0.65, 0.30) | −0.01 (−0.37, 0.34) |
| Control (ref) | ||||||
| Child | ||||||
| Sex | ||||||
| Female | — | — | — | −0.12 (−0.26, 0.02) | — | −0.19 (−0.33, −0.05)** |
| Male (ref) | ||||||
| Baseline of outcome | — | 0.59 (0.53, 0.65)*** | — | 0.63 (0.56, 0.69)*** | — | 0.53 (0.47, 0.60)*** |
| Age at baseline, mo | ||||||
| >12 | — | 0.29 (0.03, 0.56)* | — | 0.58 (0.31, 0.85)*** | — | 0.64 (0.37, 0.91)*** |
| 10–12 | — | 0.33 (0.04, 0.61)** | — | 0.59 (0.32, 0.85)*** | — | 0.66 (0.38, 0.93)*** |
| 6–9 | — | 0.10 (−0.16, 0.37) | — | 0.35 (0.10, 0.60)** | — | 0.45 (0.19, 0.71)*** |
| <6 (ref) | ||||||
| Maternal | ||||||
| Ethnicity2 | ||||||
| Other | — | −0.12 (−0.30, 0.06) | — | −0.09 (−0.27, 0.10) | — | — |
| Krobo (ref) | ||||||
| Education level | ||||||
| Secondary or higher | — | — | — | 0.12 (−0.09, 0.33) | — | — |
| Primary | — | — | — | −0.05 (−0.26, 0.15) | — | — |
| None (ref) | ||||||
| Intercept | −1.41 (−1.56, −1.26)*** | −1.38 (−1.69, −1.07)*** | −1.01 (−1.16, −0.86)*** | −1.04 (−1.34, −0.74)*** | −0.39 (−0.59, −0.20)*** | −0.59 (−0.81, −0.37)*** |
*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
Values shown are β-coefficients (95% CIs adjusted using Dunnett's method for multiple groups, or SE) from generalized linear mixed models adjusted for random effect of clusters. The adjusted models retained all covariates that had a P < 0.10 either in the bivariate analysis with the outcome or with the outcome adjusted by the baseline value. Outcomes were estimated using WHO growth standards as reference (35).
Project nutrition educators evaluated twice, 1 mo apart, the participation of women who adopted the intervention [on a scale of very poor (1) to excellent (5)] for 5 items: 1) attendance (attending nutrition education weekly meetings), 2) productivity (eggs produced), 3) payment (timely and complete payment of project inputs), 4) contribution (active participation during meetings), and 5) relationship (being attentive and helpful to group members at weekly education meetings). The mean value of the 5 items was obtained at each evaluation and the average of the 2 evaluations was then divided into tertiles (high, medium, low). Women who did not adopt the intervention were coded as “no participation.” Women in the nonintervention communities were coded “control.” The reference group was the control category.
Krobo, the local ethnic group, was compared with others (Akan, Ewe, Ga, among others).