Clinical trial NCT06942715: Applied Implementation Research for Clean Cooking in Cambodia
Official title: Applied Implementation Research for Clean Cooking in Cambodia: Equity, Exposure, Costs, and Benefits of Induction Stove Interventions
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Exposure to Environmental Pollution
Exposure to Household Air Pollution
Keywords: Cooking methods
Induction stoves
Lead sponsor: Emory University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
First posted: 2025-04-24
Enrollment: 6150
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Hybrid type II cluster randomized trial
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The goal of this study is to learn how to help families in Cambodia switch to using electric induction stoves instead of traditional stoves that burn wood or charcoal. The study will also look at whether this switch is safe, affordable, and sustainable over time.

The main questions researchers want to answer are:

* What strategies work best to encourage families to use induction stoves regularly and stop using traditional cooking methods?
* Does switching to induction cooking reduce household air pollution for primary cooks?
* What are the costs and benefits of these strategies?

To answer these questions, researchers will compare four different strategies across 62 peri-urban villages in Cambodia. They will use data loggers to track when families use induction stoves or traditional stoves, and measure air pollution levels in the home before and after families receive induction stoves.

Participants will:

* Receive an electric induction stove and support based on their group's strategy
* Have their stove use tracked through special devices
* Take part in air pollution measurements in their homes
* Share information about their cooking habits and experiences

Detailed description: Around 3 billion people worldwide cook using biomass fuels like wood, charcoal, and animal dung, which creates household air pollution responsible for about 2.3 million premature deaths each year from diseases such as heart disease, respiratory illnesses, diabetes, and cancer. Previous efforts to clean up biomass fuel burning have not sufficiently reduced air pollution or replaced traditional stoves, leading researchers to explore even cleaner alternatives like electric induction cooking.

This study evaluates whether electric induction stoves can effectively lower household air pollution in Cambodia. Using a rigorous, multi-year, cluster-randomized trial in 62 peri-urban villages, the study will:

* Develop and test different strategies (such as direct sales, subsidies, and community promotion) to encourage the purchase and regular use of induction stoves.
* Measure stove usage with cloud-connected data loggers that record cooking times and energy consumption.
* Collect household air pollution data and conduct surveys and interviews with approximately 3,100 households, with a focus on primary cooks.

The study also includes a comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis to understand the benefits in terms of health, environmental impact, time savings, and equity, especially for women and girls who primarily prepare food. By using established frameworks like (RE-AIM) and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), the research aims to build a strong evidence base to support the scale-up of clean cooking interventions in Cambodia and other low- and middle-income settings.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

- A household must:

* Provide consent to participate in our study, with at least one adult household member who identifies as the primary cook consenting to serve as the study participant
* Resides in village selected for implementation
* Household has electricity access
* Household does not already use electricity-based induction cooking technology

Exclusion Criteria:

* Household members currently smoke cigarettes or other tobacco products
* Plans to move permanently outside the study area in the next 12 months
* The primary cook prepares food and/or drink for commercial sale

Primary outcomes:
measure: Induction stove purchase: Proportion of eligible households that purchase an induction stove, based on study and sales records
timeFrame: 12 months, at the end of intervention completion
measure: Induction stove use: Number of daily cooking events
timeFrame: Up to 30 months following stove purchase
measure: Induction stove use: Duration of daily cooking
timeFrame: Up to 30 months following stove purchase
measure: Induction stove use: Daily electricity consumption of cooking events
timeFrame: Up to 30 months following stove purchase
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Biomass stove disuse: Proportion of days with no biomass stove use among households that purchased an induction stove
timeFrame: Daily, over a 1-week period following stove purchase
measure: Determinants: Induction stove purchase and use determinants
timeFrame: 30 months
measure: Personal exposure: Changes in personal 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 among primary cooks, measured before and after the intervention
timeFrame: 30 months
Other outcomes:
measure: Reach: Number and proportion of households reached by implementation strategies
timeFrame: 30 months
measure: Adoption: Proportion of recruited implementing organizations that adopt and deliver the implementation strategies as designed
timeFrame: 30 months
measure: Implementation: Intervention quality
timeFrame: 30 months
measure: Implementation: Intervention fidelity
timeFrame: 30 months
measure: Implementation: Intervention acceptability
timeFrame: 30 months
measure: Maintenance: Sustained induction stove use and reduction in biomass stove use at endline.
timeFrame: 30 months
Locations:
city: Kampong Speu
country: Cambodia
facility: International Development Enterprises: iDE
Study officials:
affiliation: Rollins School of Public Health
name: Matthew Freeman, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: