Why don’t people seek care for TB symptoms?

Last registered on April 02, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Why don’t people seek care for TB symptoms?
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013254
Initial registration date
March 27, 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
April 02, 2024, 11:03 AM 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
Sharon Barnhardt
PI Affiliation
Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University
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PI Name
Pavan Mamidi
PI Affiliation
Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-04-08
End date
2025-03-31
Keywords
Behavior, Health
Additional Keywords
Tuberculosis, care-seeking
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
According to India’s National TB Prevalence Survey 2019-2021, 64% of those who display symptoms of pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) do not seek healthcare. We designed a survey-based experiment to test the effectiveness of short (~1 minute) audio-visual messages on self-reported intention to seek medical advice for TB when experiencing a cough. The messages leverage behaviourally informed strategies to address potential barriers to seeking care for TB.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Barnhardt, Sharon, Pratyusha Govindaraju and Pavan Mamidi. 2024. "Why don’t people seek care for TB symptoms?." AEA RCT Registry. April 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13254-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-04-08
Intervention End Date
2024-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The outcome variables measure intention to seek medical advice for a cough, which is a symptom of TB:
If you had a cough, would you go to the doctor and ask them about TB?
How many weeks or months in a row would you have to cough to ask a doctor about getting a TB test?
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The messaging experiment will be embedded in a larger survey examining barriers to seeking timely medical care for TB. The experiment has seven treatment arms and one pure control arm. We randomly assign individuals to one of eight experiment arms, stratified by state. Individuals assigned to treatment arms will see a message in an audio-visual format. The messages leverage behaviourally informed strategies to address potential barriers to seeking care for TB. Individuals assigned to the control arm will not see any message. All messages feature the text, a voice-over that reads the text aloud and the sound of a person coughing in the background. All messages are in Hindi.


Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computerised (programmed on SurveyCTO)
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
3500
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
~437 individual per arm.
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-E-10056-Sharma
Analysis Plan