Nudges from outside to help the nudges from inside?: Messages to increase take-up of a public prenatal and post-natal healthcare program in Argentina

Last registered on June 02, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Nudges from outside to help the nudges from inside?: Messages to increase take-up of a public prenatal and post-natal healthcare program in Argentina
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003004
Initial registration date
June 01, 2018

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 02, 2018, 6:43 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
CAF - Development Bank of Latin America

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
CAF - Development Bank of Latin America
PI Affiliation
CAF - Development Bank of Latin America

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2017-06-01
End date
2019-06-03
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This project intends to measure the impact of improved communication and behaviorally informed nudges designed to increase the take-up of a public program (Red Primeros Meses, RPM) that provides conditional cash transfers and professional support to pregnant women and parents of small children (up to one year old) in the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina). The RPM is a subprogram of the oldest conditional cash transfer program in Argentina, Ciudadanía Porteña (CP), and is aimed at increasing healthcare utilization and ultimately health outcomes of mothers and their babies. To identify the impact on the program’s take-up, we experimentally created two treatments and a control group. Both treatment groups received two Whatsapp messages per week and the control group was left untreated. The messages contained basic information on the requirements needed to become a beneficiary of RPM. Moreover, for each treatment we added additional information on: economic benefits of RPM (Treatment group 1) and non-economic benefits of RPM: access to professional support to help in raising healthy kids (Treatment group 2). The results of this study will contribute to the evidence on the effectiveness of the use of low-cost (mobile-based) behavioral nudges to increase the current low levels of take-up of many social public programs targeting vulnerable population, which is a common and puzzling feature both in developed and developing countries.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Berniell, María, Pilar CAF and Lesbia Maris. 2018. "Nudges from outside to help the nudges from inside?: Messages to increase take-up of a public prenatal and post-natal healthcare program in Argentina." AEA RCT Registry. June 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3004-1.0
Former Citation
Berniell, María, Pilar CAF and Lesbia Maris. 2018. "Nudges from outside to help the nudges from inside?: Messages to increase take-up of a public prenatal and post-natal healthcare program in Argentina." AEA RCT Registry. June 02. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3004/history/30256
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-06-04
Intervention End Date
2019-02-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
-Program enrollment (administrative data)
-Attendance rate to pre and post-natal medical appointments / Weight at birth (conditional on permission to access special administrative data)
-Satisfaction with the program Ciudadanía Porteña (CP) / Self-reported wellbeing and life satisfaction / Self-reported health status (mother and child) / Other basic child health indicators (vaccinations, prevalence and treatment of acute respiratory infection and of fever, diarrhea prevalence, etc.) (Conditional on budget approval to conduct a field survey)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Administrative data / Survey data (conditional on budget approval)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
-Number of clicks in message's attached links (T1-T2)
-Request of information rate (if information needed to link the request to treatment condition, e.g. ID of person requesting information, is available)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Administrative data

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
About 7,800 households were randomly assigned to two treatment groups and a control group (about 2,610 households were assigned to each group). Randomization was stratified, considering three strata defined by three dichotomic variables: (i) at least one female teenager in the household; (ii) at least one female immigrant in household; (iii) household residing in a slum.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Stratified randomization
Randomization Unit
Household
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
One cluster of 7,834 households
Sample size: planned number of observations
7,834 households were randomly assigned to two treatment groups and a control group
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Three groups:
-Treatment 1: 2,610 households
-Treatment 2: 2,613 households
-Control: 2,611 households
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials