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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Agnes Quisumbing

Agnes Quisumbing is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. She co-leads a research program that examines how closing the gap between men’s and women’s ownership and control of assets may lead to better development outcomes.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Johns Hopkins University was the United States’ first research university. Its mission is to encourage research and promote the advancement of individual scholars, “who by their excellence will advance the sciences they pursue, and the society where they dwell.”

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Publications

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Journal Article

Centering context when characterizing food environments: The potential of participatory mapping to inform food environment research

2024Downs, Shauna; Manohar, Swetha; Staromiejska, Wiktoria; Keo, Chanvuthy; Say, Sophea; Chhinh, Nyda; Fanzo, Jessica; Sok, Serey
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Centering context when characterizing food environments: The potential of participatory mapping to inform food environment research

Food environments are a critical place within the food system to implement interventions aimed at enabling sustainable diets. In this perspective article, we argue for the need for food environment research to more comprehensively examine the different types of food environments that people access within their communities to ensure that interventions and programs are better aligned with people’s lived experiences. We highlight the potential ways in which participatory mapping (PM) can be leveraged to better design food environment research by: (1) identifying the different food environment types that are accessed within a given community; (2) providing insight into the timing for data collection; (3) informing the prioritization of where to conduct food environment assessments; and (4) highlighting the dynamism of food environments over time (e.g., across a given day or across seasons). We provide a case study example of the application of PM and the lessons learned from it in Cambodia. By conceptualizing food environments in a more comprehensive way, from the perspective of the people living within a given community, we will be able to measure food environments in a way that more closely aligns with people’s lived experiences. This is part of the Journal Research Topic: Measuring Diets and Food Choice in the Context of a Changing World (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/47398/measuring-diets-and-food-choice-in-the-context-of-a-changing-world/magazine#articles).

Year published

2024

Authors

Downs, Shauna; Manohar, Swetha; Staromiejska, Wiktoria; Keo, Chanvuthy; Say, Sophea; Chhinh, Nyda; Fanzo, Jessica; Sok, Serey

Citation

Downs, Shauna; Manohar, Swetha; Staromiejska, Wiktoria; Keo, Chanvuthy; Say, Sophea; Chhinh, Nyda; Fanzo, Jessica; and Sok, Serey. 2024. Centering context when characterizing food environments: The potential of participatory mapping to inform food environment research. Frontiers in Nutrition 11: 1324102. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1324102

Country/Region

Cambodia

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Asia; Capacity Development; Food Environment; Food Systems; Sustainability; Diet

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1324102 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Moderate Accuracy of Survey Responses about Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling Reported by Mothers with Children Less than 1 Year of Age in India

2023Kim, Sunny S.; Ashok, Sattvika; Avula, Rasmi; Mahapatra, Tanmay; Gokhale, Priya; Walton, Shelley; Heidkamp, Rebecca A.; Munos, Melinda K.
Details

Moderate Accuracy of Survey Responses about Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling Reported by Mothers with Children Less than 1 Year of Age in India

Background Counseling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) to support optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices is an essential intervention, and accurate coverage data is needed to identify gaps and monitor progress. However, coverage information captured during household surveys has not yet been validated. Objectives We examined the validity of maternal reports of IYCF counseling received during community-based contacts and factors associated with reporting accuracy. Methods Direct observations of home visits conducted by community workers in 40 villages in Bihar, India served as the “gold standard” to maternal reports of IYCF counseling received during 2-wk follow-up surveys (n = 444 mothers with children less than 1 y of age, interviews matched to direct observations). Individual-level validity was assessed by calculating sensitivity, specificity, and AUC. Population-level bias was measured using the inflation factor (IF). Multivariable regression models were used to examine factors associated with response accuracy. Results Prevalence of IYCF counseling during home visits was very high (90.1%). Maternal report of any IYCF counseling received in the past 2 wk was moderate (AUC: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.67), and population bias was low (IF = 0.90). However, the recall of specific counseling messages varied. Maternal report of any breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and dietary diversity messages had moderate validity (AUC > 0.60), but other child feeding messages had low individual validity. Child age, maternal age, maternal education, mental stress, and social desirability were associated with reporting accuracy of multiple indicators. Conclusions Validity of IYCF counseling coverage was moderate for several key indicators. IYCF counseling is an information-based intervention that may be received from various sources, and it may be challenging to achieve higher reporting accuracy over a longer recall period. We consider the modest validity results as positive and suggest that these coverage indicators may be useful for measuring coverage and tracking progress over time.

Year published

2023

Authors

Kim, Sunny S.; Ashok, Sattvika; Avula, Rasmi; Mahapatra, Tanmay; Gokhale, Priya; Walton, Shelley; Heidkamp, Rebecca A.; Munos, Melinda K.

Citation

Kim, S. S., Ashok, S., Avula, R., Mahapatra, T., Gokhale, P., Walton, S., Heidkamp, R. A., & Munos, M. K. (2023). Moderate Accuracy of Survey Responses about Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling Reported by Mothers with Children Less than 1 Year of Age in India. In The Journal of Nutrition (Vol. 153, Issue 4, pp. 1220–1230). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.010

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Research Methods; Data Analysis; Data; Surveys; Nutrition Education; Nutrition; Infant Feeding; Breastfeeding; Infants; Child Feeding; Children

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.010 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Using cognitive interviewing to bridge the intent-interpretation gap for nutrition coverage survey questions in India

2022Ashok, Sattvika; Kim, Sunny S.; Heidkamp, Rebecca A.; Munos, Melinda K.; Menon, Purnima; Avula, Rasmi
Details

Using cognitive interviewing to bridge the intent-interpretation gap for nutrition coverage survey questions in India

Designing survey questions that clearly and precisely communicate the question’s intent and elicit responses based on the intended interpretation is critical but often undervalued. We used cognitive interviewing to qualitatively assess respondents’ interpretation of and responses to questions pertaining to maternal and child nutrition intervention coverage. We conducted interviews to cognitively test 25 survey questions with mothers (N = 21) with children less than 1 year in Madhya Pradesh, India. Each question was followed by probes to capture information on four cognitive stages—comprehension, retrieval, judgement, and response. Data were analysed for common and unique patterns across the survey questions. We identified four types of cognitive challenges: (1) retention of multiple concepts in long questions: difficulty in comprehending and retaining questions with three or more key concepts; (2) temporal confusion: difficulty in conceptualizing recall periods such as “in the last 6 months” as compared to life stages such as pregnancy; (3) interpretation of concepts: mismatch of information being asked, meaning of certain terms and intervention scope; and (4) understanding of technical terms: difficulty in understanding commonly used technical words such as “breastfeeding” and “antenatal care” and requiring use of simple alternative language. Findings from this study will be useful for stakeholders involved in survey design and implementation, especially those conducting large-scale household surveys to measure coverage of essential nutrition interventions.

Year published

2022

Authors

Ashok, Sattvika; Kim, Sunny S.; Heidkamp, Rebecca A.; Munos, Melinda K.; Menon, Purnima; Avula, Rasmi

Citation

Ashok, Sattvika; Kim, Sunny S.; Heidkamp, Rebecca A.; Munos, Melinda K.; Menon, Purnima; and Avula, Rasmi. 2022. Using cognitive interviewing to bridge the intent-interpretation gap for nutrition coverage survey questions in India. Maternal and Child Nutrition 18(1): e13248. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13248

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Maternal and Child Health; Intervention Coverage; Surveys; Interviews; Nutrition; Children

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13248 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article