Food Accounting Salience and Dietary Diversity : A Randomized Impact Evaluation of an Intervention to Track and Improve Young Children’s Food Consumption in Bihar, India

Overview & Synopsis

This study reports results from a randomized controlled trial of a household-level behavioral intervention designed to improve complementary feeding practices among mothers of children aged 6–24 months in 2,682 households in Bihar, India. Mothers in treatment households received a wall-mounted food-tracking journal intended to increase the salience and habitual practice of recommended feeding behaviors. The intervention increased mothers’ attention to and automaticity of key feeding practices and raised the probability that children achieved minimum dietary diversity. However, it had no detectable effects on the quantity of food consumed or children’s mid-upper arm circumference. Impacts varied by the frontline worker delivering the intervention, while limited household food availability constrained improvements in dietary diversity. Better-off households exhibited larger gains in knowledge, perceived norms, and habit formation, although treatment effects on dietary diversity did not differ by household economic status. These findings suggest that low-cost behavioral tools that make food choices more salient and easier to track can complement conventional infant and young child feeding programs, including home visits, by reinforcing reminders and supporting habit formation among caregivers.