Back to History

Fields Changed

Registration

Field Before After
Trial Status in_development completed
Abstract Preventive behaviors such as hand washing, social distancing and respiratory hygiene are key to containing the spread of COVID-19, particularly in densely populated areas of developing countries with crowded living quarters and public spaces. We use phone-based messages to encourage these healthful behaviors at-scale in Maharashtra and Bihar, India. Using the "exploration sampling" approach, we will identify the most effective combinations of content and timing/frequency in increasing the adoption of preventative measures. Preventive behaviors such as hand washing, social distancing and respiratory hygiene are key to containing the spread of COVID-19, particularly in densely populated areas of developing countries with crowded living quarters and public spaces. We use phone-based messages to encourage these healthful behaviors at-scale in Bihar, India. Using the "exploration sampling" approach, we will identify the most effective combinations of content and timing/frequency in increasing the adoption of preventative measures.
Trial End Date October 15, 2020 October 20, 2020
JEL Code(s) D8, D83, D91, I1, I12, I15, O1
Last Published August 17, 2020 01:15 PM July 07, 2021 10:31 PM
Study Withdrawn No
Intervention Completion Date October 20, 2020
Data Collection Complete Yes
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization) NA
Was attrition correlated with treatment status? No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations 3,563 individuals
Public Data URL https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/0H5UGL
Is there a restricted access data set available on request? No
Program Files Yes
Program Files URL https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/0H5UGL
Data Collection Completion Date October 20, 2020
Is data available for public use? Yes
Intervention Start Date August 15, 2020 August 17, 2020
Intervention End Date September 30, 2020 October 20, 2020
Primary Outcomes (End Points) Prevalence rate for washing hands regularly with soap and water; social distancing; respiratory hygiene and covering face with masks before stepping outside of the house. Prevalence rate for washing hands regularly with soap and water; social distancing
Keyword(s) Gender, Health Gender, Health
Back to top

Irbs

Field Before After
IRB Approval Number N/A NA
Back to top

Papers

Field Before After
Paper Abstract We conduct an adaptive randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a SMS-based information campaign on the adoption of social distancing and handwashing in rural Bihar, India, six months into the COVID-19 pandemic. We test 10 arms that vary in delivery timing and message framing, changing content to highlight gains or losses for either one’s own family or community. We identify the optimal treatment separately for each targeted behavior by adaptively allocating shares across arms over 10 experimental rounds using exploration sampling (Kasy and Sautmann, 2021). Based on phone surveys with nearly 4,000 households and using several elicitation methods, we do not find evidence of impact on knowledge or adoption of preventive health behavior, and our confidence intervals cannot rule out positive effects as large as 5.5 percentage points, or 16 percent. Our results suggest that SMS-based information campaigns may have limited efficacy after the initial phase of a pandemic.
Paper Citation Bahety, Girija; Bauhoff, Sebastian; Patel, Dev; Potter, James (2021) "Texts Don’t Nudge: An Adaptive Trial to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 in India" CGD Working Paper 585
Paper URL https://www.cgdev.org/publication/texts-dont-nudge-adaptive-trial-prevent-spread-covid-19-india
Back to top

Post Trial Documents

Field Before After
Description Blog post
Citation Bahety, Girija; Bauhoff, Sebastian; Patel, Dev; Potter, James (2021) "Can SMS-based Information Campaigns Help Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 in India?" CGD Blog
Url https://www.cgdev.org/blog/can-sms-based-information-campaigns-help-prevent-spread-covid-19-india
Back to top