Evaluating the Effects of Reproductive Health Training on Provider Behavior

NCT ID: NCT06428058

Last Updated: 2025-09-12

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 310 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-06-28
• Study Completion Date: 2026-09-01

Brief Summary

The goal of this randomized, controlled, single blinded trial is to evaluate the medium to long-term effects of an Afrocentric sexual health curriculum on health professional students' knowledge, attitudes, and clinical skills in providing sexual health in Tanzania.

Detailed Description

All enrollees will be health students at MUHAS recruited through announcements in class, flyers on student noticeboards, and email. Students who are interested in learning more about the study can do so by asking questions of the recruiting faculty member, by going to, telephoning, or emailing the study office (at MUHAS). Students can also visit the study website. In addition, all students who contact the office will be given a copy of a flyer advertising the study and a copy of the consent documents to preview prior to participation. Students contacting the office by email will be sent electronic versions of the same documents.

Participants in Aim 1 are informed to schedule an appointment (in the month prior to the seminar) to complete a pre-evaluation. At the study site, participants complete pen and paper surveys, and are videotaped interviewing two standardized patients. Next, participants are randomized to either the intervention or waitlist control condition. Participants in the intervention will attend the 4-day sexual health seminar and complete a short post-test. In addition, at 6- and 12-month follow-up after the pre-test, participants in both arms complete surveys and two videotaped interviews (at each follow-up) and a final survey at 24-month follow-up. At the end of the study, participants assigned to the control condition can attend the seminar.

Conditions

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Training

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Comprehensive Sexual Health Curriculum

Participants received a four-day comprehensive sexual health curriculum tailored for Africa.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Comprehensive sexual health curriculum

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

This is a randomized, controlled, single blinded, trial, stratified by health profession, of the intervention versus waitlist control assessing the effects on sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and sexual history and counseling skills at medium (6-) and long-term (12 and 24 months) follow-up. At the end of the intervention as compared with waitlist controls.

The intervention was a 4-day, Afrocentric, comprehensive sexual health curriculum. Tanzanian faculty wrote the curriculum in English and Kiswahili to address the most common sexual health challenges clinicians experience in Tanzania. The 4-day curriculum covers sexual health across the lifespan, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and sexual violence, clinical skills training, ethics, and community resources and cultural considerations.

Waitlist Control

Participants in this arm completed a follow-up survey and scheduled to receive the intervention after the end of the trial.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Comprehensive sexual health curriculum

This is a randomized, controlled, single blinded, trial, stratified by health profession, of the intervention versus waitlist control assessing the effects on sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and sexual history and counseling skills at medium (6-) and long-term (12 and 24 months) follow-up. At the end of the intervention as compared with waitlist controls.

The intervention was a 4-day, Afrocentric, comprehensive sexual health curriculum. Tanzanian faculty wrote the curriculum in English and Kiswahili to address the most common sexual health challenges clinicians experience in Tanzania. The 4-day curriculum covers sexual health across the lifespan, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and sexual violence, clinical skills training, ethics, and community resources and cultural considerations.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• A health student studying at MUHAS and verified by being registered as a pre-final year midwifery, nursing or medical student (or its equivalent).
• "Pre-final" year is defined as a student who is just about to enter year 3 of nursing, or year 4 of midwifery or medicine.
• Living or studying in Tanzania
• Experienced, operationalized as having worked at least 100 hours as a health worker in a clinic, hospital or community setting so students can discuss what happens in the clinical setting
• Able to speak English and Kiswahili.

Exclusion Criteria

• Students who will not be able to attend all days of the seminar at their health institution or be on their campus for the follow-up.
• Students who express any reservations about attending (e.g., due to religious objections)
• Students who express a fear of violence due to attending (e.g., from a spouse or relative).
• Students who attended the sexual health seminar (e.g., during THP-1 or at another site). This is to prevent a student participating more than once.

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

Sponsors

Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Johns Hopkins University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Minnesota

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

B.R. Simon Rosser, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Minnesota

Locations

Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences

Dar es Salaam, , Tanzania

Countries

Tanzania

Other Identifiers

R01HD092655

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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