Effect of behaviourally designed interventions on household members’ willingness to encourage adherence to exclusive breastfeeding

Last registered on March 15, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Effect of behaviourally designed interventions on household members’ willingness to encourage adherence to exclusive breastfeeding
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013131
Initial registration date
March 05, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 15, 2024, 3:54 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Pratyusha Govindaraju
Affiliation
Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Pavan Mamidi
PI Affiliation
Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University
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PI Name
Nymphea Noronha
PI Affiliation
Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University
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PI Name
Max Migden
PI Affiliation
Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-01-01
End date
2024-05-31
Keywords
Behavior, Health
Additional Keywords
Exclusive breastfeeding, Adherence
JEL code(s)
Health Behavior
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is a cost-effective and key protective measure against diarrhoea and pneumonia, which are leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children under the age of 5 years. Our previous diagnostic research revealed that household members, such as fathers, grandmothers and aunts influence the mother's decisions regarding the child's nutrition.

We designed behavioural science backed solutions to support women and household members to sustain their commitment to exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life. In this lab-in-the-field experiment, we evaluate the effect of these interventions on household members’ willingness to encourage EBF adherence. This evaluation will provide valuable insights on low-cost interventions that could be implemented by community health workers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Govindaraju, Pratyusha et al. 2024. "Effect of behaviourally designed interventions on household members’ willingness to encourage adherence to exclusive breastfeeding ." AEA RCT Registry. March 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13131-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our interventions are targeted at household members of pregnant women or women with children under the age of 6 months. These include providing information in counselling format, pledging to support EBF and gently correcting household members when their advice deviates from EBF adherence.
Intervention Start Date
2024-01-01
Intervention End Date
2024-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to advise, Willingness to repeat advice, Willingness to reprimand
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The primary outcomes will be measured based on stated responses to the following questions in the post-exposure survey:
Willingness to advise - Would you advise a mother in your family to feed her child only breastmilk and nothing else, not even a drop of water, for the first 6 months?
Willingness to repeat advice - Would you repeat the advice if the mother does not follow it the first time?
Willingness to reprimand - What would you say if a mother feeds the following items (water, honey, janam ghutti) to a child under the age of 6 months?
Willingness to advise 2 - On a hot summer day, if a mother feeds spoonfuls of water to her 3-month old breastfed child, what would you do?

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Knowledge of what constitutes as deviation from EBF (frequency and quantity), Knowledge of EBF duration, Knowledge of early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF)
Attitude towards EBF based on vignettes - what is auspicious, what is nutritious, time for initiating other foods, attitude towards occasional deviation, reaction to non-adherence, reaction to non-adherence despite advising.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The effect of these interventions will be assessed by comparing outcomes in the treatment arms with a pure control arm (business as usual, no information from us). We will also compare treatment arms to assess the incremental effect of adding an additional component to the intervention.
The outcomes will be measured in a post-exposure survey conducted immediately after the intervention is administered.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computer randomization of all treatments.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
474 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Required sample size by treatment arm: 107 control, 107 information, 107 information+pledge, 107 information+pledge+correction
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ashoka University
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-15
IRB Approval Number
23-F-10018-Govindaraju
Analysis Plan

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