Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
NCT number |
NCT04013295 |
Other study ID # |
830084 |
Secondary ID |
|
Status |
Completed |
Phase |
N/A
|
First received |
|
Last updated |
|
Start date |
September 3, 2018 |
Est. completion date |
December 18, 2018 |
Study information
Verified date |
April 2023 |
Source |
University of Pennsylvania |
Contact |
n/a |
Is FDA regulated |
No |
Health authority |
|
Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
Transactional sex is widely believed to be among the driving factors for the high HIV rates
among adolescent girls and young women in Kenya. We will pilot a randomized trial among men
in Kenya to assess whether prize-linked savings opportunities reduce spending on
transactional sex. The project will randomize men to the savings intervention and assess
changes in key economic and self-reported health outcomes over a 3-6 month period.
Description:
Despite a large decline in new adult HIV infections in eastern and southern Africa from
2005-2015, progress has slowed in recent years. In particular, HIV risk among adolescent
girls and young women remains high. Transactional sex, or the exchange of material support in
non-commercial sexual relationships, is widely believed to be among the main driving factors
for the HIV risk in this population. There is a large gap when it comes to interventions
targeting men who engage in transactional sex. The proposed pilot project seeks to fill this
important gap by using behavioral economic principles to promote behavior change among men.
The project will assess a novel prize-linked savings intervention designed to shift men's
income away from alcohol and transactional sex and towards saving for the future.
Prize-linked savings accounts offer savers a random, lottery-like payout proportional to the
amount participants save, instead of traditional interest income. A number of banks,
employers, and policymakers have promoted this low-cost, scalable approach to increasing
savings among low-income individuals. However, there have been no assessments of whether
prize-linked savings interventions can induce changes in key health-related behaviors as
well. We will conduct a pilot randomized trial among men in Kenya to assess whether offering
prize-linked savings opportunities leads to reduced spending on alcohol and transactional
sex. The project will enroll men who in communities with high HIV risk, randomize them to the
savings intervention, and assess changes in key economic and self-reported health outcomes
over a 3-month period with baseline and follow-up surveys. We hypothesize that men randomized
to the prize-linked savings intervention will have higher savings, lower expenditure on
transactional sex, alcohol, and gambling, and lower rates of participation in risk behaviors
such as transactional sex, relative to men randomized to the standard bank account control
group.