Experimental Design
We recruit couples who just had their first child in the maternity hospital. We randomly assign participating couples into three arms: the control group, father-only treatment (T1), and couples treatment (T2). In expectation, there will be equal numbers of participants in each arm. The randomization is stratified by the type of rooms: i) single rooms, ii) rooms with two beds, and iii) rooms with three beds.
Participants are screened based on inclusion criteria, provide consent (both mother and father must consent to participation to be included in the study), and then fill out a baseline survey on tablets in the hospital. For participants randomly allocated to either of the two treatment conditions, enumerators then deliver the intervention, either to the father alone (in a separate room from the mother) for T1 or jointly to the couple for T2. Fathers in T1 and both parents in T2 receive a bundled intervention aimed to increase father involvement.
We conduct three monthly follow-up surveys over the following three months via online surveys of both fathers and mothers. We measure the primary outcomes in all three follow-up surveys, while the timing of the secondary outcomes varies.