Understanding the Role of Gender Inequality and Food Insecurity on Maternal and Child Health

NCT ID: NCT04383847

Last Updated: 2025-04-02

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 90 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-02-01
• Study Completion Date: 2021-10-01

Brief Summary

To pilot test a group intervention for newly married women and their households to improve nutrition, pregnancy and delivery knowledge, and intrahousehold communication

Detailed Description

Aim: To test the feasibility of an empowerment and food insecurity intervention for newly married women and others in their households to improve maternal and child health outcomes. The investigators will pilot an intervention consisting of groups of newly married women, their husbands and mothers-in-law. Each household will be enrolled for 4 months in weekly sessions. Topics discussed will include behavioral messaging crafted specifically for newly married households (including husbands and in-laws) to address the perceptions of different family members about food consumption, gender inequality, and the relationship between women's nutrition, food consumption, maternal health, and birth outcomes. Behavioral messaging at the household level: Based on findings from preliminary studies, key barriers to newly married women receiving needed nutrition/food and potential mechanisms to address those barriers were identified, as well as informational messages that could be used to address specific barriers. Particular attention was paid to how household dynamics and decision-making relate to gender inequality and food insecurity. Thirty randomly selected newly married households will be recruited to participate in testing the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Acceptability will be assessed from women, husbands, and mothers-in-law through surveys at the end of 4 months with questions on relevance to their needs, information gained, and interest in participating further. Enrollment and retention at 4 months will also be used to measure acceptability. Preliminary changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors will be assessed through a comparison of pre and post survey data. The investigators will also conduct semi structured interviews with 15 participants and 5 stakeholders. If necessary, the intervention will then be refined.

Conditions

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Main study

There is only 1 arm because this is a feasibility and acceptability pilot.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Sumadhur Aarambha

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Group intervention for newly married women, their husbands, and mothers-in-law with information mainly about nutrition, but also pre-pregnancy health, reproductive/pregnancy health and gender equality.

Interventions

Sumadhur Aarambha

Group intervention for newly married women, their husbands, and mothers-in-law with information mainly about nutrition, but also pre-pregnancy health, reproductive/pregnancy health and gender equality.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• the household has a newly married couple (married in the last 3 months)
• a living mother-in-law
• both the woman and man being over the age of 18

Exclusion Criteria

• Under 18
• not recently married

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Center for Research on Environment, Health and Population Activities

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of California, San Francisco

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Nadia G Diamond-Smith, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, San Francisco

Locations

Community based

Nawalparasi, Nawalparasi, Nepal

Countries

Nepal

References

Diamond-Smith N, Mitchell A, Cornell A, Dahal M, Gopalakrishnan L, Johnson M, Weiser S, Puri M. The development and feasibility of a group-based household-level intervention to improve preconception nutrition in Nawalparasi district of Nepal. BMC Public Health. 2022 Apr 6;22(1):666. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12980-w.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 35387647 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

K01HD086281

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

DiamondSmithK01

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id