BRAC Institute of Governance and Development-Hygiene Behavioural Change and Coalition

NCT04753645 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: BIGD2021
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 3,840
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

In line with BRAC's overall goals to limit the COVID19 transmission, BRAC has constructed 1,000 handwashing stations coupled with other supports i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of public handwashing stations (HWSs) on people's hygiene behavior and health outcomes in response to the COVID-19 situation. For this, at the household level, we will collect information on self-reported handwashing practices, income, health status, and HWSs along with other relevant socio-demographic variables in detail. In addition, we will observe people's mobility, mask usage at public places, and the HWSs usage; and will associate the observed HWSs usage with their self-reported health outcomes. This study will conduct surveys on households (7,760) and public (5,820) in 20 sub-districts of Mymensingh, Khulna, and Dhaka divisions. Overall, this study is expected to directly benefit study participants and their communities by unveiling new evidence to inform BRAC's existing hygiene behavioral change programming in these communities. In addition, this information will yield future societal benefits by generating evidence on how to effectively implement and disseminate infrastructure and information that people can trust, believe, and use to form healthy hygiene habits.

Conditions

Hygiene Practices and Knowledge

Keywords

Handwashing station; mask usage; behvaioural change

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Daily handwashing frequency

  Constructed using the self-reported daily frequency of handwashing and typical handwashing times

  One day

• Likelihood of using soap when handwashing

  Constructed using self-report (times out of 10), rapid observation of the presence of soap near handwashing facilities, and self-reported expenditure on soap

  One day

• Prevalence of transmissible diseases in the past 15 days

  Constructed using self-report of symptoms and specific diseases

  In last 15 days

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Knowledge of handwashing practices

  3 months

• Attitudes

  3 months

• Handwashing at the public places

  3 months

• Mask usage

  3 months

Study Arms (4)

HBCC and no soap

EXPERIMENTAL

BRAC has built 1000 handwashing stations in 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions), namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna, to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution from BRAC. However, this group did not receive any soap from the research team.

Behavioral: Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap

No HBCC project and no soap

EXPERIMENTAL

In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project. Also, the research team did not distribute soap to these households

Behavioral: No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control)

Soap received but no HBCC

EXPERIMENTAL

In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project but the research team randomly selected this group for soap distribution.

Behavioral: Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project

Both HBCC project and Soap received

EXPERIMENTAL

These households belong to those villages where the HBCC project has been implemented and also received the soap from the research team.

Behavioral: HBCC project and Soap

Interventions

Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap BEHAVIORAL

BRAC has built 1000 handwashing stations in 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions), namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna, to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution from BRAC. However, this group did not receive any soap from the research team.

Also known as: In-person demonstration

HBCC and no soap

No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control) BEHAVIORAL

In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project. Also, the research team did not distribute soap to these households

No HBCC project and no soap

Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project BEHAVIORAL

In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project but the research team randomly selected this group for soap distribution.

Soap received but no HBCC

HBCC project and Soap BEHAVIORAL

These households belong to those villages where the HBCC project has been implemented and also received the soap from the research team.

Both HBCC project and Soap received

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Must live in the villages where BRAC is implementing the interventions

Sponsors & Collaborators

• BRAC University: lead
• The Behavioural Insights Team: collaborator
• Brac: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

BRAC, Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Soaps

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Detergents; Surface-Active Agents; Specialty Uses of Chemicals; Chemical Actions and Uses; Household Products; Technology, Industry, and Agriculture

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: From each of 20 sub-district, out of potential villages for a public handwashing stations (HWS) we randomly selected 10 villages, of which 5 are assigned to control group or non-HBCC intervention villages and 5 are assigned to treatment group receiving the interventions. We have 98 control and 96 treatment villages due to an insufficient number of selected villages in one sub-district. First round survey revealed significant increase in soap use and not-significant decrease in handwashing (HW) frequency and soap expenditure. Our hypothesis is that there might be causality between HW and soap use. To test this, we provide soap to randomly selected 50% of our surveyed households, stratified at the sub-district level. 1,909 and 1,933 hhs from treatment and control villages received soap. Due to nationwide lockdown, we conducted follow-up phone survey. Also, to minimize Ramadan effect, we randomly divided the sample into two groups- to be surveyed before (44%) and during Ramadan (56%).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 11, 2021
• First Posted: February 15, 2021
• Study Start: September 19, 2020
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2021
• Study Completion: May 1, 2021
• Last Updated: May 12, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-05

Locations

BA (1)