The impacts of family planning support for vulnerable household in the Netherlands

Last registered on June 12, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impacts of family planning support for vulnerable household in the Netherlands
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018705
Initial registration date
June 01, 2026

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
June 12, 2026, 11:40 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
Anouk van Veldhoven
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2013-01-01
End date
2027-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Education, Gender, Health, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Family planning, mental health, child development, staggered difference-in-differences
JEL code(s)
I38, J13, C23
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
There is ample evidence of low contraceptive uptake and unmet need for family planning by mentally vulnerable individuals. At the same time, avoiding unwanted pregnancies for this group may be especially important to improve their (mental) well-being, autonomy and self-reliance. Impacts of large-scale family planning counselling programs specifically targeted at vulnerable groups with mental health issues in high-income countries are understudied. I study the effects of a national family planning support program in the Netherlands that integrates tailored family planning counselling in existing systems for the provision of mental and physical healthcare as well as targeted social care for vulnerable youth and adults. I study the program's impacts on its intended outcomes: contraceptive uptake, (unwanted) pregnancies, and households’ socio-economic outcomes that enhance a stable, supportive home for children.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
van Veldhoven, Anouk. 2026. "The impacts of family planning support for vulnerable household in the Netherlands." AEA RCT Registry. June 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18705-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2014-01-01
Intervention End Date
2026-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Contraceptives uptake, fertility, pregnancy termination.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
child health and development, education, labor market outcomes, domestic violence
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study will evaluate the effectiveness and impacts of a family planning support program in the Netherlands. The program integrates tailored family planning support to vulnerable groups in existing systems for the provision of mental and physical healthcare as well as targeted social care for youth and adults. It does so by training professionals in hospitals, GP offices, abortion clinics, group homes for assisted living and residential care and local social work organizations to respectfully initiate conversations about family planning with clients and, if desired, provide support to access suitable contraceptive methods. The program is implemented by district-level public health offices, and was rolled out gradually across Dutch municipalities since 2017 after a pilot in one large municipality started in 2014. As of January 2025, 90% of all municipalities are implementing the program. For identification of causal effects I leverage the variation across municipalities in the timing of program implementation and estimate a staggered differences-in-differences (DiD) event study.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Municipality policy.
Randomization Unit
Municipality
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
342 municipalities
Sample size: planned number of observations
400,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
By end of 2021: 168 municipalities treated, 174 untreated.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
< 0.1 SD
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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