A Savings Intervention to Reduce Men's Engagement in HIV Risk Behaviors

NCT ID: NCT05385484

Last Updated: 2025-07-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1500 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-07-18
• Study Completion Date: 2026-03-31

Brief Summary

This randomized control trial will test an economic intervention to reduce Kenyan men's engagement in behaviors that increase the risk of HIV/STIs. Participants randomized to the intervention group will be able to open accounts with a partner bank and will be incentivized to save with lottery-based rewards.

Detailed Description

This project will evaluate an innovative, theoretically-motivated economic intervention to reduce men's engagement in transactional sex and other risky behaviors. Leveraging innovations in mobile financial services and research on savings behavior in low-income countries, the investigators propose to test an intervention that seeks to motivate high-risk, income-earning men in western Kenya to reduce their spending on risky behaviors and instead save their disposable income in local bank accounts. These bank accounts will include additional incentives to save in the form of lottery-based rewards linked to amounts saved. The intervention will also encourage participants to develop savings goals and strategies, and provide periodic reminders about saving regularly. Through a direct economic mechanism (incentives to shift expenditures from the present to the future) and a psychological mechanism (increasing future orientation), the investigators hypothesize that the intervention will result in increased savings, reduced spending on transactional sex and alcohol, less risky sexual behavior, and reduced risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial among men who are at high risk of HIV and STI infection and determine the effects of a savings intervention on health and economic outcomes. Specific aims of the project are as follows. Aim 1: Determine the impact of the intervention on savings and investment behavior, self-reported sexual behavior, and incidence of HIV/STIs. Aim 2: Quantitatively and qualitatively assess mechanisms of behavior change among participants and a sample of their female partners.

Conditions

Human Immunodeficiency Virus; STI; Alcohol Consumption; Incentives; Behavior

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Mobile banking account with incentives to save

Participants in the savings intervention group will be provided with basic information on the importance of saving for the future, as well as (a) lottery-based incentives to save, (b) opportunities to develop savings goals, and (c) periodic reminders about the savings incentives and goals. Participants will receive assistance in opening and using a mobile savings account and will receive an education session that emphasizes the importance of saving for the future. Participants will be told about lottery-based incentives for saving money in their account.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Receives mobile banking account with incentives to save

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive assistance in opening and using a mobile savings account, will be given education emphasizing saving practices and will be told about lottery-based incentives opportunities.

Basic health and financial education

Participants in the control group will be given basic information on the importance of saving for the future. In addition, health education curriculum developed by Impact Research \& Development Organization (IRDO) will be provided to participants with standard health education on places to seek services for HIV and STI prevention and treatment, including information on alcohol and transactional sex as risk factors for HIV transmission.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Receives mobile banking account with incentives to save

Participants will receive assistance in opening and using a mobile savings account, will be given education emphasizing saving practices and will be told about lottery-based incentives opportunities.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Male
• Age 18-39 years
• Resides in study community and plans to remain for the next 2 years
• Used alcohol or other substances in the past month
• Engagement in any transactional sex (defined as payment of money, goods, or services in exchange for sex) in the past 3 months
• Has a steady income source that typically results in earnings every week
• Owns mobile phone
• Already has or is willing to open an account with partner banking institution
• Has national identification card (required for opening bank account)
• Has Kenya Revenue Authority personal identification number or is willing to create one (required for opening bank account)

Exclusion Criteria

• None

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 39 Years
• Eligible Sex: MALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

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

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Impact Research & Development Organization

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of California, San Francisco

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Washington

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

RTI International

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pennsylvania

Locations

Impact Research and Development Organization

Kisumu, , Kenya

Countries

Kenya

References

Egbe TI, Omollo OD, Wesonga JO, Bair EF, Chakrabarti A, Putt ME, Celum CL, Camlin CS, Napierala S, Agot K, Thirumurthy H. A savings intervention to reduce men's engagement in HIV risk behaviors: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2022 Dec 16;23(1):1018. doi: 10.1186/s13063-022-06927-0.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 36527120 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Document Type: Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

1R01HD103563-01A1

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

849897

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id