Behavior, Health, Pregnancy Related
Conditions
Brief summary
This study will test the effectiveness of a phone-based big sister/big brother program designed to provide health information and support, reduce school dropouts, and promote safer relationships. The program's goal is to create a phone-based safe space, to ensure adolescents remained connected with access to support and health information during COVID lockdowns.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALLow tech health Phone + SMS messages
Weekly health-related phone calls plus SMS messages are provided to adolescents.
BEHAVIORALLow tech health SMS messages
Weekly health-related SMS messages are provided to adolescents.
Sponsors
University of Oxford
Young 1ove
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
10 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Adolescent who provided their phone number to Young 1ove staff when prompted by their school; or their siblings/ other adolescents living in the same household. * Parents and students consented to participate.
Exclusion criteria
\-
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Share of students that have been or are pregnant and/or have dropped out of school | ~6 months post-program | These two outcomes (using school administrative data on whether students have dropped out of school and were pregnant) will be combined into a composite variable equal to 1 if the student has become pregnant and/or has dropped out of school. |
| Share of students with the accurate belief that older partners have the highest risk of HIV compared to younger partners. | ~4 weeks post program | Indicator variable from the survey question wording: Who do you think has the highest risk of infecting you with HIV? |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Share of students reporting that they make the final decision in their life about visiting a Sexual and reproductive health clinic | ~4 weeks post program | Indicator variable from the survey question response |
| Share of students reporting that if they or their partner were pregnant, they would tell the data collector | ~4 weeks post program | Indicator variable coded 1 if student answered likely or very likely to 'If you were pregnant, how likely would you be to tell me?' |
Other
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Share of female students reporting that they agree or strongly agree with the statement 'If I don't want to hold hands with a guy, I can comfortably refuse to do it' | ~4 weeks post program |
| Share of students listing known support services when asked 'If a friend experienced dating difficulties or violence, do you know any organizations, services or phone numbers you could suggest she contact to get some help if she wanted?' | ~4 weeks post program |
| Share of students disclosing personal information to the data collector in the open-ended question at the end of the survey. | ~4 weeks post program |
Countries
Botswana
Contacts
Primary ContactNoam Angrist, PhD
Backup ContactClaire Cullen, PhD
Outcome results
None listed