-->PONE-D-25-38092-->-->Protocol for Study on Improving Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Practices in Tribal Block of Palghar District, Maharashtra through Involvement of Frontline Workers-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Kulkarni,

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Additional Editor Comments:

1. The study type is missing from the title. It is mentioned that in-depth interviews will also be conducted. Both qualitative and quantitative components are present, as the author mentioned. Is it a mixed-method study?

2. The title of the study protocol does not align with the study objective.

3. What ethical issues may arise, and how will those be dealt with?

4. The Gantt chart is missing in the protocol.

5. The data analysis plan is missing.

6. Which checklist will be followed up to enhance the quality of research?

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field.-->

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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-->2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses?

The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory.-->

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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-->3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable?

Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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-->4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes

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-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics.

You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study.

(Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: The study is relevant for reducing and malnutrition and associated health loss. However, the abstract lacks tool, sampling methods,type of analysis and data collection tool. The introduction is very weak. The methods is incomplete E.g dose of ntervention is lacking, type of analysis is lacking, impact is included and data quality assurance, baseline data is missed. Again, the tite dectates practice where as the entire document describes about the perception ,knowledge and practice.

Reviewer #2: Research Summary and overall impression

This is an article detailing an intervention study that is being planned to address issues regarding Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) in India. According to the authors, malnutrition remains high (~35.50%) despite efforts at combating it. Restricting themselves to an area in the Palghar District of Maharashtra, the team intends to carry out this study over a two-year period in three phases: (1) pre-intervention, which will involve in-depth interviews (IDIs) with local health workers and health promoters; interviews with 460 eligible mothers who would have agreed to participate in the study; as well as the preparations of logistics and materials needed for the intervention phase; (2) Intervention, which will involve the adequate equipping of health workers and promoters with logistics and materials to administer education and training to nursing mothers with regard to IYCF, as well as the provision of servings and food supplements to participants at health centers; and (3) post-Intervention, which will involve a survey conducted over six months to assess impact of intervention on mothers in selected area in the Palghar District.

There are a few observations which the authors would need to note:

Major Issue:

Line 176: Please provide more clarity on how the sample size of 460 was arrived at by indicating the formula which was used. No statistical formula was shown, only figures.

Also, what statistical tests would be conducted on the data collected both at the pre-intervention and post-intervention phases? Which statistical software(s) would be used? Would comparisons be conducted? If so, at what p-value would these comparisons be considered significant? P<0.05? p<0.01?

Minor Issues:

There are a number of issues with manuscript format and referencing formats (both in-text and in the References section). I have tried to point some out with in-text comments (please find attached article for your perusal). The authors should go through the article and ensure all formats (text, referencing, and image) adhere to PONE requirements.

Other/General Remarks:

I think the study was well-presented. Working on the above suggestions should greatly enhance the article.

I would recommend it for publication.

Reviewer #3: It is a very interesting study regarding feeding practises and nutrition in the first two years of life. Further research is needed in order to reduce malnutrition and improve nutritional status of infants.

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-->7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review?  For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-25-38092_reviewed_Elias.pdf

Protocol for a Quasi Experimental Mixed Method Study on Impact of Intervention for Improving Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Practices in Tribal Block of Palghar District, Maharashtra, India through Involvement of Frontline Workers

PONE-D-25-38092R1

Dear Dr. Kulkarni,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Ashish Wasudeo Khobragade, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field.-->

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses?

The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory.-->

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable?

Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.-->

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics.

You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study.

(Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #3: I have nothing more to point out or ask, the comments so far, as well as the answers given, are satisfactory. However, the issue, due to the country of origin is extremely interesting and needs further research.

**********

-->7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review?  For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #3: Yes:  Georgios Balaouras

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