Mental Health and Adolescent Schooling: Evidence from a Therapy Field Experiment in Nepal

Last registered on September 27, 2022

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Mental Health and Adolescent Schooling: Evidence from a Therapy Field Experiment in Nepal

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007782

Initial registration date

September 23, 2022

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

September 27, 2022, 11:50 AM EDT

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

Last updated

September 27, 2022, 2:25 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Nepal

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Priya Mukherjee

Affiliation

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Eric Edmonds

PI Affiliation

Dartmouth College

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Nikhilesh Prakash

PI Affiliation

Stockholm School of Economics

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Nishith Prakash

PI Affiliation

University of Connecticut

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Shwetlena Sabarwal

PI Affiliation

World Bank

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2021-11-01

End date

2022-12-01

Keywords

Behavior, Education, Gender, Health

Additional Keywords

Mental health

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We use a randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of providing individualized therapy sessions on the mental well-being and education of adolescents (aged 12-18), who are at risk of dropping out from schools or have who have dropped out from school in the past 2 years. The study includes 1,803 such adolescents and their parents. The intervention is administered at the individual-level, and a randomly selected 50% of adolescents (and their parents) are selected to receive 6-8 weekly therapy sessions, designed and delivered free of cost by the Centre for Mental Health Counselling - Nepal (CMC-N). We also cross randomize half the sample in the therapy and no-therapy groups respectively to receive an in-person session aimed at encouraging the adolescents to attend school.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Edmonds, Eric et al. 2022. "Mental Health and Adolescent Schooling: Evidence from a Therapy Field Experiment in Nepal." AEA RCT Registry. September 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7782-2.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The interventions are described in detail in the analysis plan provided

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2022-02-14

Intervention End Date

2022-06-25

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Mental health; attitudes towards mental health; school attendance
All outcomes are described in detail in the analysis plan provided

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

All outcomes are described in detail in the analysis plan provided

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

All outcomes are described in detail in the analysis plan provided

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

All outcomes are described in detail in the analysis plan provided

Experimental Design

This study has a four armed design:
1. Psychosocial Treatment Only (T1)
2. Education Encouragement Only (T2)
3. Psychosocial Treatment and Education Encouragement (T3)
4. Pure Control (C)
The evaluation design grouped eligible adolescents in the selected localities in to strata based on their municipality, age, sex, and teacher reported drop-out risk. A random number generator was then used to allocate children in equal proportion to each study arm within each stratum.
The sample was compiled based on in-person visits with schools in the fall of 2021, and the information used in stratification was collected then. Treatment occurred in the spring of 2022 with an endline in-person survey completed in summer 2022.
The provided pre-analysis plan describes the sampling frame, randomization, interventions, data collection processes, and the methodology used to analyze all the data collected during the course of this study.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A

Sample size: planned number of observations

1803

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Control (C) - 452
Psychosocial Treatment Only (T1) - 455
Education Encouragement Only (T2) – 449
Psychosocial Treatment and Education Encouragement (T3) - 447

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB