Evaluating the Impact of Behavioral Nudges on Student Hand-washing in Elementary Schools in the Philippines

Summary

This study evaluates the impact of school-based behavioral "nudges" installed in toilets and handwashing facilities on handwashing behavior among students in the Philippines. Nudges include: visible signage crafted to trigger behavioral motivators for handwashing; colorful pathway overlaid with footprints leading from the toilet to the handwashing station; sticker of a pair of eyes placed above the handwashing station; soap dish with an arrow beside it on the sink or counter to remind children to wash their hands with soap. The study's main hypothesis is that behavioral nudges will increase the percentage of students who wash their hands with water and soap after toilet use by 7 percentage points or more among schools where nudges were installed compared to control schools without nudges. The study is taking place in public primary schools in Zamboanga Del Norte, Philippines between October 2019 and May 2020.

Conditions

• Hand Disinfection

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral nudges

Behavioral nudges include the following: 1. Colorful pathway overlaid with footprints leading from the toilet to the handwashing station 2. Rotating posters in toilet areas with messages targeting behavioral motivators for handwashing (disgust, social affiliation) 3. Sticker of a pair of eyes placed above the handwashing station 4. Soap dish with an arrow beside it on the sink or counter to remind children to wash their hands with soap

BEHAVIORAL

National WASH policy

The Philippines' Department of Education National WASH in Schools (WinS) policy promotes "correct hygiene and sanitation practices among school children and a clean environment in and around schools" and includes initiatives related to infrastructure, knowledge, and behavior change, but does not include other programs with an explicit focus on handwashing promotion.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

  collaborator FED

• UNICEF

  collaborator OTHER

• Philippines Department of Education

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• IDinsight

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Haijing Huang, PHD · IDinsight

• Meghan Battle, MPH · IDinsight

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

5 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-02-10

Primary Completion

2020-03-02

Completion

2020-03-02

Countries

• Philippines

Study Locations