Using visual stimuli to promote healthy snack choices among children

The Effectiveness of Pamphlet toward Consumption Behavior Changing of Iodized Salt among Housewives: A Quasi-experimental Study

BACKGROUND: Prenatal and postnatal growth is affected by iodized salt. Poor management of iodized salt when cooking food or vegetables can reduce iodine levels in salt. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of pamphlets to increase behavior toward consumption of iodized salt among housewives. METHODS: Study design quasi-experiment with the control group. The intervention group attached to media pamphlet on a kitchen wall or cooking area (The brochure contains how to process iodized salt properly), while the control group was given a leaflet (The leaflet contains how to manage iodized salt properly). The total number of samples was 76 (each group had 38 samples). Before implementing the attached pamphlet media in the kitchen wall, each group measured iodized salt management behavior (pre-test). After four months of intervention, the iodized salt management behavior was measured again. After collecting the data, it was analyzed using logistic regression. RESULTS: The results of the study showed that there was a difference in the proportion in the group that intervened with pamphlets compared to leaflets in the management of iodized salt, it’s illustrated from the exponent value (β) or Odds Ratio (OR) 3.37 CI: (0.63-17.92) after being controlled by other variables. CONCLUSION: The attached pamphlets in the kitchen area effectively increase consuming iodized salt among housewives, so the media should be placed where the behavior will appear to change the desired behavior.  

Snacks, nudges and asymmetric peer influence: Evidence from food choice experiments with children in Indonesia

Many children in low- and middle-income countries are growing up during a rapid nutrition transition. Experimental evidence on food choice in developing countries is scarce, while it is unclear to what extent evidence from high-income countries can be generalized. Children participated in a snack choice experiment. We expose some children to emoji labels encouraging healthy snacks, while others observe healthy or unhealthy snacking by peers. While emoji labels moderately promote healthy snacking, the adverse effect of observing a peer eating the unhealthy snack is very large. The effect associated with observing a healthy peer is insignificant. Additionally, cross-randomized blocks of children watched a nutrition video to study the interaction of information provision and nudging. The video independently improves healthy choices but does not aid the emoji nudge and cannot counter the strong negative peer effect. We compare our findings to studies conducted in developed countries and discuss policy implications.