WASHing Up Futures: RCT for Holistic Early Childhood Development

Last registered on October 20, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
WASHing Up Futures: RCT for Holistic Early Childhood Development
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013328
Initial registration date
April 09, 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 16, 2024, 2:41 PM EDT

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

Last updated
October 20, 2024, 2:47 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
India
Region
Uttar Pradesh

Primary Investigator

Name
Ashish Sedai
Affiliation
University of Texas at Arlington
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-06-01
End date
2024-06-02
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Gender, Health, Welfare
Additional Keywords
water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices, awareness, habit formation, welfare, maternal and child health.
JEL code(s)
I12, I14, I15, I25
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project aims to investigate the impact of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices on early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with a focus on Indian slums. Recognizing the profound influence of early developmental experiences on human capital formation, the research focuses on early childhood interventions and habit formation techniques that can taught at an early age. This initiative involves three interlinked phases: an exploration of practices and norms in Indian slums, identifying and teaching habit formation techniques to suit these contexts, and a meticulous evaluation using a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) methodology. The research cohort consists of 2,000 mother-child dyads from the district of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India. Interventions are designed to raise awareness and induce behavior change in WASH practices, with one group additionally receiving hands-on habit formation interventions. The project's analytical framework blends individual-level and slum-level variables to understand the causal effects of these interventions on child and maternal outcomes.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Sedai, Ashish. 2024. "WASHing Up Futures: RCT for Holistic Early Childhood Development." AEA RCT Registry. October 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13328-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The research cohort consists of 2,000 mother-child dyads from the district of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India. Interventions are designed to raise awareness and induce behavior change in WASH practices, with one group additionally receiving hands-on habit formation interventions. The project's analytical framework blends individual-level and slum-level variables to understand the causal effects of these interventions on child and maternal outcomes.
Intervention (Hidden)
The research endeavor encapsulates 2,000 mother-child dyads hailing from 100 distinct slum clusters situated in the district of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Intervention Groups:

• Awareness Group (n=600): This cohort will be immersed in an informative curriculum elucidating the pivotal role of WASH practices.

• Awareness & Behavior Transformation Group (n=600): This cohort, in addition to knowledge dissemination, will partake in hands-on habit formation interventions. This will encompass different habit formation techniques (including how to clean and discard faecal matters, clean and store safe drinking water, in addition to distribution of infrastructural support such as liquid Dettol to wash hands and clothes, flasks to store safe drinking water after it is boiled and/or plastic potty seats for small kids), continuous support, regular monitoring and comprehensive guidance on minimizing faecal exposure.

Control Group (n=800): This cohort shall serve as the baseline benchmark, devoid of interventions.

Evaluation Metrics: Comparing the Awareness treatment and Control group will help understand the effect of information dissemination on child health and hygiene, while comparing the Awareness Group and Awareness & Behavior Transformation Group will help us understand the added effect of habit formation or hands on training, if any, on child health via improved childcare quality.

The analytical framework is a meticulous blend of individual-level and slum-level variables. This synthesis offers a holistic view into the interplay between interventions and multifaceted child and maternal outcomes. The hypothesis centers on the incremental impact of behavior transformation, driven by the compounding effect of knowledge enhancement and behavior modification.
Intervention Start Date
2024-06-01
Intervention End Date
2024-06-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The study assesses the impact on child psychosocial and physical health, knowledge and awareness indicators, water, sanitation and hygienic behaviors, cognitive outcomes, other developmental outcomes, maternal mental and physical health, time-use outcomes, labor market outcomes, and overall well-being, aiming to reveal the lasting effects of interventions over time.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
While there will be no spillover from treatment group to control group as we will randomize at the slum level, there may be significant spillover effects within the household, which we will capture via behavioral changes among non-participant friends and nearest neighbors (or members in the study participant’s social networks).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The research cohort consists of 2,000 mother-child dyads from the district of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India. Interventions are designed to raise awareness and induce behavior change in WASH practices, with one group additionally receiving hands-on habit formation interventions. We will compare each of these treatment arms to the control arm to estimate the treatment effects.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Slum level
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
100 slums
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 mother-child dyads
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
60 treatments (30 in each treatment) and 40 control slums and 20 dyads from each slum
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IIT Kanpur IEC
IRB Approval Date
2023-06-16
IRB Approval Number
IITK/IEC/2023-24/I/38
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
No
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials