Social Network Interventions in Rural Honduras

NCT01672580 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Lempira_Phase2
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 5,773
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This project will examine the spread of health interventions with a randomized control trial design by introducing public health interventions in 32 villages in the Honduran Department of Lempira. Based on identified public health needs in the region, namely improved drinking water and diet, this study will provide training on the use of chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) for water purification and multivitamins for nutritional supplementation. In some villages, individuals selected for their social connectedness will be trained and given coupons that can be redeemed for either chlorine bleach or multivitamins, and these persons will be asked to spread this information and distribute coupons to four people of their choosing. In other villages, individuals selected at random will receive the same training, materials, and instructions. A second wave of coupon distribution will provide coupons to those who received a coupon from the original "seed" groups so that they may disperse these coupons further out in the social networks. Over the following months, study investigators will look at how knowledge of these health practices, and uptake or and adherence to the practices, spreads throughout the villages. More specifically, the investigators will examine the speed and extent of spreading of these new health practices after introducing them to three different initial "seed" groups: (1) people chosen on the basis of being named as a friend by many people in their village, (2) people chosen based on being named as a friend by a randomly chosen individual, and (3) a group of randomly chosen individuals. It is hypothesized that spread will occur faster and/or to a greater extent when the intervention is started in groups 1 and 2 versus group 3 (control group).

Conditions

Malnutrition; Dysentery; Social Transmission of Health Behaviors

Keywords

social networks; nutrition; vitamins; chlorine

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Intervention Spread

  Use of health product among community members will be tracked.

  October 2012

Study Arms (6)

Random-Cloro

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

exposure to water chlorination

Behavioral: exposure to water chlorination

Random-Vitamin

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

exposure to vitamin use

Behavioral: exposure to vitamin use

Indegree-Cloro

EXPERIMENTAL

high in-degree, exposure to water chlorination

Behavioral: exposure to water chlorination; Behavioral: high in-degree

Indegree-Vitamin

EXPERIMENTAL

high in-degree, exposure to vitamin use

Behavioral: exposure to vitamin use; Behavioral: high in-degree

Nominated-Cloro

EXPERIMENTAL

nominated by random, exposure to water chlorination

Behavioral: exposure to water chlorination; Behavioral: nominated by random

Nominated-Vitamin

EXPERIMENTAL

nominated by random, exposure to vitamin use

Behavioral: exposure to vitamin use; Behavioral: nominated by random

Interventions

exposure to vitamin use BEHAVIORAL

"Seed" individuals in village are given daily adult multivitamin, with training on use and general nutrition information, along with coupons to distribute to others in village

Also known as: Medox Forte

Indegree-Vitamin; Nominated-Vitamin; Random-Vitamin

exposure to water chlorination BEHAVIORAL

"Seed" individuals in village are given Clorox bleach for water purification, with training on use and general information on water hygiene, along with coupons to distribute to others in village

Also known as: Clorox

Indegree-Cloro; Nominated-Cloro; Random-Cloro

high in-degree BEHAVIORAL

"Seed" individuals for starting intervention are chosen on the basis of high (social network) in-degree

Indegree-Cloro; Indegree-Vitamin

nominated by random BEHAVIORAL

"Seed" individuals for starting intervention are chosen on the basis of being named as a friend/alter of a randomly selected individual

Nominated-Cloro; Nominated-Vitamin

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Residents of Targeted Communities, ages 15 and up

You may not qualify if:

• Children younger than age 15

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Harvard University: lead
• Yale University: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut, 06517, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Kim DA, Hwong AR, Stafford D, Hughes DA, O'Malley AJ, Fowler JH, Christakis NA. Social network targeting to maximise population behaviour change: a cluster randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2015 Jul 11;386(9989):145-53. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60095-2. Epub 2015 May 4.

  PMID: 25952354 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Malnutrition; Dysentery

Interventions

Sodium Hypochlorite

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Gastroenteritis; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Digestive System Diseases; Intestinal Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Hypochlorous Acid; Chlorine Compounds; Inorganic Chemicals; Oxides; Oxygen Compounds; Sodium Compounds

Study Officials

• Nicholas A Christakis, MD, PhD

  Yale University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Thomas Keegan, PhD

  Yale University

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Project Director

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 20, 2012
• First Posted: August 27, 2012
• Study Start: August 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2013
• Study Completion: October 1, 2014
• Last Updated: March 19, 2015

Record last verified: 2015-03

Locations

US (1)