How does a social norms-based intervention affect behaviour change? Interim findings from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Odisha, India

Authors

Erica Sedlander, Institute for Health and Aging, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA erica.sedlander@ucsf.edu.
Ichhya Pant, Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Jeffrey Bingenheimer, Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Hagere Yilma, Deptartment of Health Science, Boston University Sargent College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Lipika Patro, IPE Global Limited, Delhi, India.
Satyanarayan Mohanty, DCOR Consulting Pvt. Ltd, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Rohini Ganjoo, Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ashburn, Virginia, USA.
Rajiv Rimal, Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-8-2022

Journal

BMJ open

Volume

12

Issue

7

DOI

10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053152

Keywords

nutrition & dietetics; public health

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Behaviour change interventions targeting social norms are burgeoning, but researchers have little guidance on what they look like, and which components affect behaviour change. The Reduction in Anaemia through Normative Innovations (RANI) project designed an intervention to increase iron folic acid (IFA) consumption in Odisha, India. OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the effect of the intervention at midline to understand which components of the RANI intervention affect uptake. METHODS: Using a cluster randomised controlled design, we collected baseline data and midline data 6 months later from women of reproductive age in the control and treatment arms (n=3800) in Angul, Odisha, India. Using nested models, we analysed data from three different intervention components, monthly community-based testing for anaemia, participatory group education sessions, and videos, to determine the extent to which exposure to each of these components accounted for the overall intervention effect on haemoglobin and self-reported IFA use. RESULTS: Overall, residing in a treatment as opposed to control village had little effect on midline haemoglobin, but increased the odds of taking supplements by 17 times. Exposure to each of the intervention components had a dose-response relationship with self-reported IFA use. These components, separately and together, accounted for most of the overall effect of treatment assignment on IFA use. CONCLUSIONS: All intervention components increased iron supplement use to differing degrees of magnitude. It appears that a social norms-based approach can result in improving IFA uptake, though improvements in haemoglobin counts were not yet discernible.

APA Citation

Sedlander, Erica; Pant, Ichhya; Bingenheimer, Jeffrey; Yilma, Hagere; Patro, Lipika; Mohanty, Satyanarayan; Ganjoo, Rohini; and Rimal, Rajiv, "How does a social norms-based intervention affect behaviour change? Interim findings from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Odisha, India" (2022). GW Authored Works. Paper 1336.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/1336

Department

Prevention and Community Health