Methods for Increasing Caregiver Training: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Last registered on February 11, 2021

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Methods for Increasing Caregiver Training: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007156

Initial registration date

February 10, 2021

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

February 11, 2021, 11:57 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Christopher Cronin

Affiliation

University of Notre Dame

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Ethan Lieber

PI Affiliation

University of Notre Dame

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2020-10-08

End date

2021-10-02

Keywords

Behavior, Health

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

This randomized control trial will determine whether financial incentives can be used to encourage caregivers to participate in online training programs. We will partner with Helping Restore Ability (HRA), a non-profit that supports thousands of caregivers in Texas, as they roll out a new online training program to improve in-home care quality. To encourage training take-up, treated individuals will receive emails offering a financial incentive for completing an online training program. Members of the control group will receive a standard email with no incentive for training completion. This study will determine the impact of this financial incentive on participation and performance in the training program.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Cronin, Christopher and Ethan Lieber. 2021. "Methods for Increasing Caregiver Training: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial." AEA RCT Registry. February 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7156-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2021-02-15

Intervention End Date

2021-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcomes of this experiment are: intervention take-up, training program performance, and training program engagement.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Did caretaker "reply" to the email.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This study will operate as a randomized-controlled trial. Approximately 750 caregivers will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: a control group, which will receive a standard email invitation to complete the training and a monetary compensation group, which will receive $50 for completing the training.

We also want to determine how many caretakers actually read the email we are sending. To determine this, we will include a line at the bottom of some emails that offers the caretaker a $10 gift card if they simply reply to the email. This line will be included in 150 randomly selected individuals in each treatment arm (i.e., 300 individuals total).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

In this study, we use a rerandomization method in which all participants are randomized to treatment assignments 100 times. Of these 100 randomized datasets, we select the randomization assignment dataset that yields the minimum of the maximum t-statistic over select variables to ensure balance across treatment arms. These variables are gender, race, tenure with client, age, relation with client, tenure with HRA, employee relationship with HRA (Personal Attendant Services [PAS] or Consumer Directed Services [CDS]), an indicator variable for whether caregiver was on HRA payroll in September 2020, an indicator variable for whether caregiver is paid through Amerigroup insurance, indicator variables for whether (and how) the caregiver completed a pre-analysis survey, and an indicator for whether the caretaker used a training token (i.e., logged into the training platform) during a prior experiment offering training opportunities.

This approach is described in detail by Banerjee et al. (2020). Each of the variables used in the rerandomization process will be controlled for during analysis, as suggested in Bruhn and McKenzie (2009).

Randomization Unit

Randomization will occur at the individual-level, using rerandomization method.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

747 caretakers

Sample size: planned number of observations

747 caretakers

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

224 control, without $10 reply incentive
150 control, with $10 reply incentive
223 treatment, without $10 reply incentive
150 treatment, with $10 reply incentive

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB