Beyond Bias - Reducing Provider Bias Towards Adolescents to Increase Contraception Take-Up in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan

Sponsor
RAND (Other)
Overall Status
Active, not recruiting
CT.gov ID
NCT04802304
Collaborator
University of California, Los Angeles (Other), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Other), Pathfinder International (Industry)
233
1
2
27
8.6

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Beyond Bias will evaluate the impact of an intervention designed to reduce family planning provider bias towards young, unmarried, and nulliparous women in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan. The intervention has three components: 1) a summit that includes impactful stories told to and by family planning providers that highlight the consequences of provider bias, 2) a forum for continued communication between providers, and 3) a rewards program where clinics in which providers exhibit less biased client interactions or who have improved the most towards this end will be rewarded with social recognition and a ceremony.

Half of the eligible clinics in each country (233 in total) are randomly assigned to receive the intervention, while the remaining half serves as control. The objective of the evaluation is to estimate the impact of the intervention on a range of outcomes related to quality of family planning care among young, unmarried, and nulliparous women. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will increase the share of young, unmarried, and nulliparous women who received counseling on a range of methods, counseling on long acting methods, and who received their preferred method.

The investigators will collect four types of data to evaluate the intervention: 1) provider surveys, 2) mystery clients' visits, 3) direct observations of client-provider interactions, and 4) qualitative interviews with clients, providers, and implementors.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Other: Beyond Bias Treatment
N/A

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
233 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description:
Half of the eligible clinics in each country (233 in total) are randomly assigned to receive the intervention, while the remaining half serves as control.Half of the eligible clinics in each country (233 in total) are randomly assigned to receive the intervention, while the remaining half serves as control.
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Health Services Research
Official Title:
Beyond Bias - Reducing Provider Bias Towards Adolescents to Increase Contraception Take-Up in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan
Actual Study Start Date :
Sep 1, 2020
Anticipated Primary Completion Date :
Sep 1, 2021
Anticipated Study Completion Date :
Dec 1, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Treatment

Other: Beyond Bias Treatment
The intervention has three components: 1) a summit that includes impactful stories told to and by family planning providers that highlight the consequences of provider bias, 2) a forum for continued communication between providers, and 3) a rewards program where clinics in which providers exhibit less biased client interactions or who have improved the most towards this end will be rewarded with social recognition and a ceremony.

No Intervention: Control

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Whether client was able to receive services [12 months after the intervention starts]

    This is a measure of whether the client received family planning services on the day they came into the clinic. This will be measured from real clients using client exit surveys and using mystery clients.

  2. Optimal Counseling [12 months after the intervention starts]

    This is a measure of whether the client was counseled on all methods that were good options for the client given her background and preferences. This will be coded as 1 if client was counseled on the full set of optimal family planning methods and zero if the client was not counseled on the full set of optimal family planning methods. This will be collected in the client exit survey and in by mystery clients.

  3. Received modern method [12 months after the intervention starts]

    This is a measure of whether the client received a modern family planning method during her visit. This will be collected in the client exit survey only.

  4. Perceived patient centeredness [12 months after the intervention starts]

    This is a composite scale (ranging from 0 to 1) that measures the extent to which the client perceived the her interaction with family provider as patient centered. The questions included in the scale will be chosen based on data driven factor analysis methods. Higher scores will indicate better patient centeredness. This will be collected in the client exit survey and in by mystery clients.

Secondary Outcome Measures

  1. Provider biased attitudes [12 months after the intervention starts]

    This is a composite scale (ranging from 0 to 1) that measures the extent to which providers have biased attitudes towards young, unmarried, and adolescent women. The questions included in the scale will be chosen based on data driven factor analysis methods. Higher scores will indicate better patient centeredness. This will be collected through a provider survey.

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
N/A to 24 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
Female
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Yes
Inclusion Criteria for Providers:
  • All providers that are part of Pathfinder Internal's supported clinic network in Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and Pakistan.
Exclusion Criteria for Providers:
  • None
Inclusion Criteria for Clients:
  • All clients aged 24 or under that visit a clinic that is enrolled in the study
Exclusion Criteria for Providers:
  • Clients over 24

  • Clients who do not visit the clinic for family planning services

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 RAND Santa Monica California United States 90401

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • RAND
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Pathfinder International

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Zachary Wagner, Ph.D, RAND
  • Principal Investigator: Corrina Moucheraud, Ph.D, University of California, Los Angeles

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.
Responsible Party:
Zachary Wagner, Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT04802304
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • 2019-0387
First Posted:
Mar 17, 2021
Last Update Posted:
Mar 17, 2021
Last Verified:
Mar 1, 2021
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
Yes
Plan to Share IPD:
Yes
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
No
Keywords provided by Zachary Wagner, Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Mar 17, 2021