Evaluation of Impacts of Health Education for Children of Microcredit Clients in Peru

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This purpose of this study is to determine whether a health education intervention for clients of a microcredit organization in Peru will improve health outcomes among clients and their children.

Detailed Description
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An increasingly popular scheme for poverty alleviation is microcredit, the awarding of small loans to individuals too poor or too remote to take advantage of traditional lending services. Studies have repeatedly shown that income is one of the factors strongly associated with physical and mental wellbeing. Yet economic growth alone doesn't necessarily lead to healthier families, especially if basic health knowledge or health services are absent in the community. Microcredit institutions have recently tried to address this issue by supplementing banking-only microcredit programs with programs that include tie-ins or add-ons such as health education or health services. A rigorous evaluation of such banking-plus endeavors has not yet been conducted, leaving a gap in the knowledge base regarding whether these organizations are meeting their stated goals in catering to both economic and social needs. This study attempts to address this research question using a randomized controlled trial of a health education intervention to clients of a microcredit organization in Peru.

Conditions
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Child Health Status

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Health education
* Other: Microcredit


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Subjects must be current clients of the collaborating microcredit organization Clients must be at least 18 years of age Children of clients must be less than 5 years of age Study participants must be able to speak and understand Spanish Exclusion Criteria: Only one client from any particular household may participate

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: Microcredit only<br> | Other: Microcredit<br>* Small loans administered to clients through the collaborating microcredit organization, to be repaid monthly over the course of six months in the context of monthly loan group meetings.<br>|
| Experimental: Microcredit plus health education<br>Thirty minutes of a health education module administered to clients by loan officer at their monthly group meetings over the course of 8 months. | Behavioral: Health education<br>* 30 minutes of a health education module delivered to clients by loan officers during monthly repayment meetings, over the course of 8 months.<br>Other: Microcredit<br>* Small loans administered to clients through the collaborating microcredit organization, to be repaid monthly over the course of six months in the context of monthly loan group meetings.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Anthropometric measures including height, weight, and blood hemoglobin level |  | One year after intervention begins | 
| Client health knowledge on a variety of issues related to child health (e.g. diarrhea, fever) |  | One year after intervention begins | 
| Child health status as measured by a variety of indicators (e.g. days of diarrhea, presence of bloody diarrhea, presence of severe cough, days of fever, etc.) |  | One year after intervention begins | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Social support as measured by the Duke-UNC FSSQ |  | One year after intervention begins | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Poverty, Global health, International health, Latin America, Peru, Child health, Microcredit, Microenterprise, Microfinance