The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized trial to determine the effectiveness of an educational intervention for religious leaders in promoting uptake of family planning in Tanzania.
In this community randomized trial, the investigators will randomize 12 rural villages to receive an educational seminar for their religious leaders about family planning. The investigators will compare these uptake of family planning in these 12 villages with 12 matched villages whose religious leaders do not attend an educational seminar about family planning. The investigators will also determine women's reasons for seeking family planning at the village dispensaries.. Prior to the start of the trial, the study team will ensure that dispensaries in all villages in the trial will have a reliable supply of contraceptive options. To mitigate the effect of economic barriers and medication shortages on access to contraception, a dedicated medication supply team will make certain that all dispensaries remain well-stocked with standard contraceptives that are free from the Tanzanian Ministry of Health. These include oral contraceptive pills, implants, injections, copper intrauterine devices, and condoms. Villages will be paired by proximity (within 50 kilometers of one another). Within the pair, one village will be randomly assigned, using a computer-generated algorithm, to receive the intervention of religiously- and culturally-informed teaching intervention about family planning for religious leaders. The other village will be the control village. Each intervention village will be followed, and its religious leaders mentored in groups, for 12 months after the start of the intervention. Mentorship groups of 25 leaders, led by the study team, will meet for 1 hour per month. The investigators will also conduct focus groups in both intervention and control villages to understand community perceptions of family planning.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
24
Religious leaders will be invited to participate in a one-day seminar led by Tanzanian religious leaders and physicians. The religious, cultural, and medical aspects of family planning will be discussed and seminar attendees will be given ample time for group discussions.
St. Paul College
Mwanza, Tanzania
Uptake of family planning at village dispensaries
The investigators will measure the percent of the population seeking modern contraception.
Time frame: 12 months
Pregnancy rates
The investigators will obtain pregnancy rates for the village stratified by age.
Time frame: 12 months
Reasons for seeking family planning
Women seeking family planning will answer a short structured yes/no questionnaire to determine the sources from which they were encouraged to seek family planning.
Time frame: 12 months
Couple-years of protection
The investigators will use the types of family planning accessed to calculate couple-years of protection per given population number, according to conversion numbers provided by USAID (https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/family-planning/couple-years-protection-cyp)
Time frame: 12 months
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