What is the most appropriate model ?

[Ousmane Diongue]

Hello
I am having problems analysing my data and I need your help please
I have done a comparative study between two areas (one area receiving a behaviour change communication intervention and one without)
I want to compare the rates of exclusive breastfeeding and breast milk consumption in mother-infant pairs of 4-5 months.
I sampled by cluster and in each area 6 clusters were visited. The total number of mother-infant pairs enrolled in the study is 150.
I have a set of variables on socio-economic data, characteristics of mothers, growth and morbidity of infants.
Now in the data analysis, I used a mixed model to take into account the covariates for the comparison of variables between the two areas.
To see now the variables that are associated with EBF or breast milk consumption can I use a simple stepwise model or should I stay with the mixed model?

Thanks

[Jared Greathouse]

My go to for comparative studies is interrupted time series, difference-in-differences and/or synthetic controls.