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General

Study Overview

Title:

Vaparshun! - IMPROVING TOILET USE BEHAVIOURS IN RURAL INDIA

Study is 3ie funded:

Yes

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-5b8568ac80c30

Initial Registration Date:

08/28/2018

Last Update Date:

08/27/2018

Study Status:

Ongoing

Location(s):

India

Abstract:

Vaparshun! (an expression in Gujarati which means ‘we will use’) is a novel, intervention programme, based on the theory and process of Behaviour Centred Design (BCD) (Aunger & Curtis 2016). The overall purpose of this programme is to learn about how to change toilet use behaviours by addressing the key drivers of toilet use. Vaparshun! is a scientifically designed and addresses the key drivers of toilet use as follows: 1. Create motive: Toilet Makeover 2. Hoard motive: Pit Emptying Demo and Pit Filling Estimation Demos 3. Affiliation/convenience motives:Testimonial films and photographs captured by volunteers 4. Transition inducing events: Audio visual stimuli promoting toilet makeover and pit emptying solutions The study is a cluster randomised trial in 90 villages (45 intervention, 45 control). Data will be collected at baseline, and at 2 months after the intervention. The primary outcome is proportion of households with contractor-built toilets in intervention clusters compared to proportion of households with contractor-built toilets in control clusters that report toilet use by all family members.

Registration Citation:

Curtis, V. and Mavalankar, D., 2018. Vaparshun!  - IMPROVING TOILET USE BEHAVIOURS IN RURAL INDIA. Registry for International Development for Impact Evaluations (RIDIE). Available at: 10.23846/ridie154

Categories:

Water and Sanitation

Additional Keywords:

Secondary ID Number(s):

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

Val Curtis

Affiliation:

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Name of Second PI:

Dileep Mavalankar

Affiliation:

Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

Study Sponsor

Name:

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation

Study Sponsor Location:

India

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

Type of Organization:

Research institute/University

Location:

India

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

Intervention components designed to address the drivers of toilet use, identified during formative research, are as follows: 1. Create motive: Toilet Makeover using easily available, economical components and stencils to increase the desirability of a good quality, usable toilet. 2. Affiliation/convenience motives: Community Events with film, games and testimonies to bring home the convenience of toilets and the possibility of being the last person in the village still going for out for OD. 3. False belief: Pit Emptying Demo and Pit Filling Estimation Demo to graphically convince families that toilets do not have a limited use life and to give them a real estimate of pit filling. 4. Transition to a new toilet use routine: Reward for becoming a habitual user.

Theory of Change:

Vaparshun! uses the Behaviour Centred Design (BCD) framework and theory of change (ToC) to design its intervention (Aunger & Curtis 2016). BCD reflects the latest science in how brains drive behaviour and the process of designing and testing interventions. The intervention aims to increase toilet use among all members in a household (especially men) by delivering a cascade of activities, at the cluster level, that will help people understand (functionality, benefits and features) and value their toilets. We hypothesise that exposure to our intervention will lead people to find it convenient and comfortable to use their government/contractor built toilets and will make them usable by carrying out suitable repair and/or modifications (i.e. toilet makeover) of the structure (such as painting walls, creating ventilation, installing tap/water station, handles, toilet chairs for differently abled/ old people). The intervention will deliver components (pit emptying/ filling emotional-demonstration, transition nudges and community events) that we anticipate will make people feel less anxious about pit filling and emptying, which are likely to hamper their motivation to use a toilet, and will reduce the tendency to ‘hoard’ (i.e. save it for later) pit space (due to fear of pit filling up quickly and the anxiety of emptying it in absence of available services in the area). We hypothesise that this will make the experience of toilet use comfortable and desirable and will lead to changes in behaviours, such that toilet use becomes ‘normal’ for all members in a household.

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

Yes

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell

Type of Organization:

NGO (local)/Community Based Organization/Other civil society organization

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation

Type of Organization:

NGO (International)

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

No

Start Date:

08/28/2018

End Date:

11/06/2018

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Randomized control trial

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

Evaluation of the impact of Vaparshun! intervention on improving toilet use behaviour will be done through a pair-matched cluster randomised trial in 94 villages (47 intervention, 47 control). Data will be collected at baseline, and at 2 months after the intervention delivery. An associated process evaluation will be done to identify the causes of success and/or failure of the intervention on improving toilet use behaviours and to study the hypothesised pathways to change of intervention components (toilet makeover and community events targeted at men).

Outcomes (Endpoints):

Outcome: Households with contractor-built toilets in intervention clusters report toilet use by all family members during the last time they defecated and in the last 24 hours Indicator: Post intervention reported use of HH toilets by members of household .Number of members in a household that report toilet use (during all times in last 24 hours and the last time they defecated) compared with total number of members in a household. Definition: Members in a household that report toilet use during last time they defecated. This will be self-reported using a standardised questionnaire (in a household roster for each household member individually in households that own government/ contractor built toilets) for all members in a household. In case members are not present, other family members or the primary respondent will be asked about where the person defecated last time. Mothers will be asked about the defecation behaviour of younger children. Information about all members in a household will be obtained. Measurement: Assessed 2 months after intervention delivery. 3ie prescribed Survey questionnaire (30 HHs per cluster in 90 clusters)

Unit of Analysis:

Household level

Hypotheses:

Primary hypothesis: An innovative theory-based, behavioural intervention can improve toilet use amongst households with government/ contractor-built toilets in high coverage areas of rural Gujarat. Toilet use for the primary outcome is defined as the proportion of households where all members use the toilet (the last time they defecate), measured through self-report or as reported by the questionnaire respondent on behalf of other members. We will use the 3ie standardised questionnaire to measure this outcome. Secondary hypothesis: The intervention increases toilet use among household members as observed through structured observation and the newly developed sticker diary methodology. The intervention increases toilet use among men as observed through structured observation and the newly developed sticker diary methodology.The exposure to intervention (toilet makeover, emo-demo’s and community events targeted at men) will exposure to our intervention will lead people to valuing their toilets and adoption of improved practices and use (less anxiety around pit filling (hoard), recognizing that they provide benefits associated wociated with the motives create, convenience

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

Clusters/village

Number of Clusters in Sample:

94

Number of Individuals in Sample:

30 HHs per cluster

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

47 cluaters in treatment and 47 clusters in control

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

TW14 PAP_Vaparshun.docx

Other Documents:

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

Questionnaire survey Structured observations Sticker diaries

Data Already Collected?

No

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

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Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

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Study Materials

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Registration Category

Registration Category:

Prospective, Category 1: Data for measuring impacts have not been collected

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

Data Collection Completion Date:

Unit of Analysis:

Clusters in Final Sample:

Total Observations in Final Sample:

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

Findings

Preliminary Report:

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Paper:

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Date of Data Availability:

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Other Materials

Survey:

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Program Files:

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External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: