Team-Based Goals and Incentives for Community-Based Health Workers to Promote Maternal and Child Health in Bihar, India

Stanford University3,581 enrolled

Overview

This study is designed to evaluate the impact of team-based goals and performance-based incentives for community-based health workers on health-promoting behaviors among women related to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition in Bihar, India. The intervention was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and implemented from 2012 to 2014. Health sub-centers in the catchment areas of five blocks (sub-districts) of the district of Bengusarai were randomly assigned to treatment or control arms (38 sub-centers were assigned to each). Data were collected in the Intervention and Control areas from mothers of infants 0-12 months at baseline and at 2.5-year follow-up, to assess the intervention's effects on quality and quantity of FLW home visits, postnatal health behaviors, and among older infants/toddlers, complementary feeding and vaccination. Difference in difference analyses were used to assess outcome effects in this quasi experimental study. The TBGI intervention was implemented in areas where the BMGF-funded Ananya program (official title: Bihar Family Health Initiative) was also being implemented. Thus, the impact is of the \[TBGI intervention + Ananya\] versus \[Ananya alone\]. The Ananya program was developed and implemented via a partnership of BMGF and the Government of Bihar. The ultimate purpose of Ananya was to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality; fertility; and child undernutrition in Bihar, India. Ananya involved multi-level interventions designed to build front line health worker (FLW) capacities and reach to communities and households, as well as to strengthen public health facilities and quality of care to improve maternal and neonatal care and health behaviors, and thus survival. It was implemented from 2012 to 2014. Eight focal districts in western and central Bihar received Ananya, while 30 districts did not.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Interventions

Team-Based Goals and IncentivesBEHAVIORAL

The intervention included 3 main components. 1) The intervention fostered a sense of team collective responsibility and solidarity (TEAM) by emphasizing the value of teamwork and front-line community health workers (FLWs) reciting a pledge at meetings to serve beneficiaries. 2) To establish goals and coverage targets related to maternal and child health outcomes (GOALs), 7 targets were identified related to delivery preparations, newborn care, exclusive breastfeeding, and family planning. 3) Small non-cash incentives were awarded to FLWs each quarter if their team met greater than 70% of the collective subcenter goals; incentives were most common cookware products (e.g., dish, cooking vessel, steamer). Non-cash incentives also included a certificate of recognition for teams that met their targets in all quarters (INCENTIVES). In the areas of the intervention and control arms, the Ananya program was also underway (see Brief Summary of the project).

Control ConditionOTHER

Standard of care

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

At least 2 antenatal home visits in final trimester

Assessed via self-report from representative sample of mothers of children aged 0-11 months.

Time frame: Up to 2.5 years

At least one home visit within 24 hours of delivery, among women who had a home delivery

Assessed via self-report from representative sample of mothers of children aged 0-11 months.