The Role of Information and Social Learning on Risky Sexual Behavior in Cameroon

Last registered on May 10, 2017
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Role of Information and Social Learning on Risky Sexual Behavior in Cameroon
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000609
Initial registration date
March 14, 2016

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
March 14, 2016, 6:07 PM EDT

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

Last updated
May 10, 2017, 11:10 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Cameroon
Region
Africa

Primary Investigator

Name
Elise Huillery
Affiliation
Sciences Po
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Juliette Seban
PI Affiliation
Sciences Po LIEPP
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Esther Duflo
PI Affiliation
MIT, JPAL
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PI Name
Pascaline Dupas
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2009-12-31
End date
2012-01-01
Keywords
Health
Additional Keywords
HIV/AIDS
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In an attempt to minimize new HIV infections among young girls, the Cameroon Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health worked with researchers to design a generalizable school-based HIV/AIDS education program targeted at 13-year-old teenage girls. This study evaluates this school-based HIV/AIDS education program, known as ISAS (Information, Teenage Sexuality and Health), on fertility, reproductive health, and high-risk sexual behavior of young girls in 8th grade. This experiment was specifically designed to test whether the type of HIV information messenger as well as the type of information being provided affect how much information is retained, how much information is transmitted to peers, and how reported behavior changes among girls and their friends.
External Link(s)
J-PAL evaluation summary

Registration Citation

Citation
Duflo, Esther et al. 2017. "The Role of Information and Social Learning on Risky Sexual Behavior in Cameroon." AEA RCT Registry. May 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.609-3.0
Former Citation
Duflo, Esther et al. 2017. "The Role of Information and Social Learning on Risky Sexual Behavior in Cameroon." AEA RCT Registry. May 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/609/history/17544
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The experiment involved 318 junior high schools. The design is based on a two-step randomization:

- Schools were assigned, through block-randomization, to one of four groups: (1) control, (2) classic ABC education by a teacher, (3) classic ABC education by an outside consultant, and (4) ABC education + “relative risk” message by an outside consultant

- Schools were also assigned independently to two groups: (a) control, and (b) a one-hour in-class quizz on HIV prevention

This results in 8 experimental conditions : 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, and 4b
Intervention Start Date
2010-01-31
Intervention End Date
2011-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Self-reported Behavior, Life outcomes, Intermediate Outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Self-reported Behavior - questions on the quantity of sexual activity (occurrence of a sexual activity), as well as quality (characteristics of sexual partners and condom use).

Life outcomes - childbearing and schooling.

Intermediate Outcomes - quizzed girls on their knowledge of modes of transmission and prevention of HIV.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment was implemented by IRESCO under guidance from the research team. The study took place in three French speaking regions of Cameroon with relatively different background characteristics (Yaoundé is purely urban whereas the South and West regions are mostly rural). In total, these three regions totalized 527 junior high schools (middle schools). We excluded from the sample all confessional schools as well as schools with fewer than 10 girls in 8th grade (our target grade). This left 326 schools out of which we randomly sampled 318.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Middle schools aka junior high schools
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
318 junior high schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
approximately 10 girls per school = 3312 girls
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1a. Pure Control = 40 schools
1b. In-class quizz only = 40 schools
2a. ABC message by a teacher = 40 schools
2b. ABC message by a teacher + in-class quizz = 40 schools
3a. ABC message by an outside consultant = 40 schools
3b. ABC message by an outside consultant + in-class quizz = 39 schools
4a. ABC + relative-risk message by an outside consultant = 39 schools
4b. ABC + relative-risk message by an outside consultant + in-class quizz = 40 schools
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Study has received IRB approval. Details not available.
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
Details not available
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
April 30, 2011, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Yes
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Results from a randomized experiment conducted with teenage schoolgirls in Cameroon suggest that
HIV prevention interventions can be effective at reducing the incidence of teen pregnancy in the following
9-12 months by over 25 percent. We find little difference in effectiveness between one-time, one-hour
sessions delivered directly to students by specialized consultants and sessions delivered through regular
school staff trained over two days by specialized consultants. We also find little difference between the
standard “Abstain, Be Faithful, Use Condoms” curriculum and an enriched curriculum that includes information
on the heightened risk of cross-generational sex. Lastly, a one-time, one-hour self-administered
questionnaire on HIV and sexual behavior has an equally large impact on teen pregnancy. These results
suggest that rural teenage schoolgirls’ sexual behavior is highly responsive to even small interventions
that make the risks of HIV and pregnancy salient. We find no effects among urban schoolgirls, who are
more exposed to information and experience much lower rates of teenage pregnancy under the status
quo.
Citation
"Risk Information, Risk Salience, and Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Experimental Evidence from Cameroon," Dupas, Pascaline, Elise Huillery, and Juliette Seban. April 2017.
URL
http://web.stanford.edu/~pdupas/Risk_Teenagers_Sex_Cameroon.pdf

Reports & Other Materials