Encouraging LPG Adoption in Ghana: A Factorial Randomized Clinical Trial to Enhance LPG Adoption & Sustained Use

Summary

Household air pollution (HAP) is a top-priority public health problem in developing countries. According to the most recent comparative risk assessment, 3.5 million people die prematurely each year as a result of HAP exposures. While uncertainties remain regarding causal links between HAP exposures and health, the time is ripe for focused research into effective interventions. Limited past research has shown that the demand for clean cookstoves is low, and that households continue to use traditional hearths even when they have clean stoves. The investigators propose to harness an existing cohort in Ghana to study factors that increase the adoption of clean cookstoves, and to test strategies to promote adoption and continued use.

Conditions

• Behavior, Consumer
• Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
• Health Attitude

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

RANAS Behavior Change Intervention

The Risks, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities, and Self-Regulation (RANAS) Model is a health behavior change intervention, which has been successfully used in the area of water, sanitation, and hygiene. It draws from numerous health behavior theories, including the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Health Action Process, and the Health Belief Model. The model posits that the five factor blocks (risks, attitudes, norms, abilities, and self-regulation) that must be aligned toward the new behavior in order to influence change. A series of activities target each block accordingly.

OTHER

Infrastructural Intervention - Direct Delivery

Product demand is influenced, in part, by accessibility. Investigators are testing the degree to which this is true for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by establishing a direct delivery system for communities randomized to this treatment arm. Individuals in these communities are able to contact a 'delivery agent', contracted by the Kintampo Health Research Centre, who will: 1) retrieve their cylinder, 2) refill with LPG, and 3) return to the participant. The cost of delivery is free to the participant (paid by the study), but the participant is expected to fully pay for their own LPG.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

  collaborator NIH

• Columbia University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Darby Jack, PhD · Columbia University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-08-21

Primary Completion

2018-10-31

Completion

2018-10-31

Countries

• United States
• Ghana

Study Locations