Clinical trial NCT00832143: Effect of Referral Card on Neonatal Medical Care Seeking for Institutional Births in Urban Lucknow
Official title: Effect of Referral Card on Neonatal Medical Care Seeking for Institutional Births in Urban Lucknow
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Neonatal Morbidity
Neonatal Illnesses
Keywords: neonatal illness
qualified care seeking
Behaviour change
Urban slums
India
Neonatal morbidity
Care seeking for neonatal illnesses
Qualified medical care seeking
Integrated management of neonatal and childhood illnesses (IMNCI)
Lead sponsor: King George's Medical University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Indian Council of Medical Research
First posted: 2009-01-29
Enrollment: 1020
Sex: ALL
Maximum age (years): 4
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Neonatal mortality rate in Uttar Pradesh, Northern India is 53.6 per thousand, and accounts for 8% of global neonatal deaths.It has been argued that prompt and appropriate care-seeking for sick neonates can substantially reduce neonatal mortality. This pre and post intervention trial was done to assess the impact of a pictorial "Neonatal referral Card" and one-to-one counseling of mothers on the qualified medical care-seeking behavior for sick neonates in urban Lucknow.

The study hypothesis was that the counseling on danger signs along with neonatal referral card has no impact on availing services of a qualified medical practitioner by caregivers of sick neonates.

Detailed description: The study was conducted in two government maternity hospitals in Lucknow. Neonates enrolled in the pre intervention phase were followed up for 6 weeks+15 days but did not recieve the study intervention. While, the mothers of the neonates enrolled in the post intervention phase recieved the study intervention within 48 hours of institutional delivery.Enrollment and follow-up procedures were same in both the phases.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Neonates born in the participating hospital within last 48 hours and the parents on which gave written informed consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Neonates presenting with any clinically detectable congenital malformation at birth or who required any resuscitation at birth or who were admitted for any morbidity immediately after birth or those who were not the residents of Lucknow or were likely to leave the city limits within next one month.

Primary outcomes:
measure: The utilization of health services of qualified medical care provider (attendance; hospitalization) for neonatal sickness
timeFrame: In neonatal period
Secondary outcomes:
measure: To assess the causes of failure of health seeking behavior for neonatal illnesses of the community
timeFrame: in neonatal period
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Lucknow
country: India
facility: King George's Medical University
state: UP
Study officials:
References:
citation: Awasthi S, Srivastava NM, Pant S. Symptom-specific care-seeking behavior for sick neonates among urban poor in Lucknow, Northern India. J Perinatol. 2008 Dec;28 Suppl 2:S69-75. doi: 10.1038/jp.2008.169.