The Impact of Maternal and Child Health Information Delivered by Professional and Non-Professional Social Media Influencers on Maternal Knowledge and Behavior: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Mongolia

Last registered on August 18, 2025

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016490

Initial registration date

August 14, 2025

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

August 18, 2025, 6:43 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Region

Country

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Yesu Erdenebayar

Affiliation

Hiroshima university

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Ghulam Dastgir Khan

PI Affiliation

The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Yuichiro Yoshida

PI Affiliation

School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Daisaku Goto

PI Affiliation

Graduate School of Economics, Ritsumeikan University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-08-18

End date

2026-02-02

Keywords

Behavior, Education, Gender, Health

Additional Keywords

Maternal health, Child health, Social media, Influencers, Health behavior, Health knowledge, Digital health, Professional influencers, Non-professional influencers, Randomized controlled trial, Mongolia, Early childhood development

JEL code(s)

I12, I18, D91, L86

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study tests how health information shared on social media by different types of influencers affects what mothers know and do about their young children's health. We are working with 400 mothers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, who have at least one child under the age of five. After a baseline survey, mothers will be randomly assigned to four groups: one group will receive no health information; one will receive written health advice based on official guidelines; one will receive video messages from a well-known pediatrician on social media; and one will receive similar messages from popular non-professional influencers like actresses or mother content creators. The messages will be delivered through a secure website over a few months. We will measure what mothers learn, how they change their behavior, and whether there are improvements in their children's health and development. This study will help us understand whether the source of health information, professional or non-professional, matters for improving health knowledge and practices among mothers.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Erdenebayar, Yesu et al. 2025. "The Impact of Maternal and Child Health Information Delivered by Professional and Non-Professional Social Media Influencers on Maternal Knowledge and Behavior: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Mongolia." AEA RCT Registry. August 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16490-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

This study involves 400 mothers of children under five years old living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Participants are randomly assigned to one of four groups to receive different types of health information through a specially designed website. Each mother is given a unique username and password to access the site.
Group 0 (Control): Receives no health information.
Group 1 (Text Only): Receives written health messages based on WHO child health guidelines.
Group 2 (Professional Influencer): Receives the same health information through short videos recorded by a pediatrician who is a well-known professional influencer on social media.
Group 3 (Non-Professional Influencer): Receives the same health information through short videos recorded by popular non-professional influencers such as actresses or content creators who are mothers.
All information is accessible only through the secure website, and content sharing is restricted to prevent spillover between groups. The intervention takes place over three months, during which participants’ engagement with the content (e.g., views and reading frequency) is tracked.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-08-25

Intervention End Date

2025-11-25

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Maternal health knowledge
Maternal health-related behavior
Child anthropometric outcomes (WAZ, HAZ, WHZ)
Compliance with routine child health check-ups

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Maternal Health Knowledge
Knowledge will be measured using structured surveys assessing mothers' understanding of child health topics such as nutrition, hygiene, growth monitoring, immunization, and early recognition of illness. The change in scores will indicate the effect of the intervention.
Maternal Health-Related Behavior
Behavior will be assessed through self-reported practices and, where available, verified with child health records. Key behaviors include feeding practices, use of growth monitoring tools, hygiene habits (e.g., handwashing), timely health check-ups, and seeking care when illness is suspected.
Child Anthropometric Outcomes
Children’s growth will be evaluated using standardized anthropometric measures collected during health check-ups:
Weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ)
Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ)
Weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ)
These Z-scores will be calculated using WHO child growth standards.
Compliance with Routine Child Health Check-Ups
This outcome tracks whether mothers bring their children to scheduled child health check-ups during and after the intervention period. Attendance will be verified using clinic records or confirmed through follow-up interviews.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Incidence of childhood illnesses (anemia, rickets, malnutrition, overweight, stunting)
Child socio-emotional development
Child cognitive development

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Incidence of Childhood Illnesses
Mothers will report whether their child experienced specific conditions (e.g., anemia, rickets, malnutrition, overweight, stunting) during the study period. This data will be cross-referenced with available health records from clinics.
Child Socio-Emotional Development
Measured using a validated screening tool such as the Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE), appropriate for the child’s age. This assesses emotional regulation, social interaction, and behavior.
Child Cognitive Development
Assessed using a standardized developmental screening instrument like the ASQ-3 or an equivalent locally adapted tool, measuring language, problem-solving, motor skills, and cognitive engagement suitable for children under five.

Experimental Design

This study uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to examine how different types of social media influencers affect maternal health knowledge and behavior. The study is conducted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with a sample of 400 mothers who have at least one child under the age of five.
After completing a baseline survey, participants are randomly assigned to one of four groups:
Control group: Receives no health information.
Text group: Receives written child health messages based on WHO and national guidelines.
Professional influencer group: Receives video messages on the same health topics from a pediatrician who is a popular social media influencer.
Non-professional influencer group: Receives video messages on the same health topics from non-professional influencers such as actresses or mother content creators.
All content is accessed through a secure website, and participants are given unique login credentials. The intervention period lasts for three months. Engagement data (e.g., video views, reading frequency) is collected through the website. Follow-up surveys and health checks are conducted to measure changes in knowledge, behavior, and child health outcomes.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization is conducted in-office using a computer-generated random number sequence by the research team at Hiroshima University.

Randomization Unit

The unit of randomization is the individual mother-child pair.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Not applicable

Sample size: planned number of observations

400 mothers with at least one child under the age of five.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Sample Size by Treatment Arms:
100 mothers: Control group (no information)
100 mothers: Text group (standard written health information)
100 mothers: Professional influencer video group
100 mothers: Non-professional influencer video group

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Using a significance level of 5%, 80% power, and 100 mothers per group (400 total), the estimated minimum detectable effect sizes (MDES) are: Maternal health knowledge (continuous score): Standard deviation: assumed 1.0 (normalized score) MDES (Cohen’s d): 0.35 Maternal health-related behavior (binary indicators, e.g., improved feeding or hygiene): Baseline prevalence: assumed 50% MDES: 12–15 percentage point change Child anthropometric outcomes (WAZ, HAZ, WHZ): Standard deviation: assumed 1.2 (based on WHO child growth standards) MDES (Cohen’s d): 0.40–0.45 Compliance with routine child health check-ups (binary): Baseline compliance: assumed 60% MDES: 12–14 percentage point change These values assume individual-level randomization with no clustering, low attrition, and minimal spillover between groups due to access restrictions on the intervention website.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB