Innovative use of cluster analysis to evaluate social marketing strategies to control vitamin A deficiency

An innovative approach such as the social marketing strategy (SMS) can be useful for promoting the vitamin A status of the community. A community-based study undertaken in Southern India assessed the feasibility and effectiveness of SMS in raising the awareness of the community concerning vitamin A in changing attitudes and in improving dietary behaviors. The SMS was adopted in the "experimental area" for nutrition communication. The conventional method of nutrition education was employed in the "positive control area." To study changes over time a "negative control area" was selected where there was no intervention. After one year of implementation the intervention program was evaluated using quantitative indicators such as vitamin A status and vitamin A intake as well as qualitative parameters like knowledge attitudes and practices (KAP). Cluster analysis a multivariate technique was applied to analyze the KAP data to assess the effectiveness of SMS on the KAP of the community. The analysis clearly segregated the entire population from the three areas into two distinct clusters these were "good" having higher mean scores and "poor" with lower mean scores. A bivariate analysis between clusters and the type of intervention revealed that higher proportion of respondents in the good cluster belonged to the area employing the SMS. The analysis also revealed that for effective communications frequent contacts by the agent communicators and use of multiple media are essential. With the application of cluster analysis it was possible to analyze the usefulness of KAP data and interpret it effectively. (authors)