Hygiene Practices and Knowledge(BIGD-HBCC)NCT04753645
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development-Hygiene Behavioural Change and Coalition
A study testing Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap, Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project and HBCC project and Soap in people with Hygiene Practices and Knowledge, run by BRAC University at 1 site in Bangladesh.
Trial summary
In line with BRAC's overall goals to limit the COVID19 transmission, BRAC has constructed 1,000 handwashing stations coupled with other supports i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution in Bangladesh. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 10 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Hygiene Practices and Knowledge
- What is being tested?
- Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap, Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project and HBCC project and Soap
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 3,840 participants
- Where
- 1 siteBangladesh
- Study dates
- 19 Sep 2020to May 2021
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 10 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Must live in the villages where BRAC is implementing the interventions
Who cannot join
- -
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: The Effect of Public Handwashing Stations on Health Behaviour and Outcomes During COVID-19
In line with BRAC's overall goals to limit the COVID19 transmission, BRAC has constructed 1,000 handwashing stations coupled with other supports i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of public handwashing stations (HWSs) on people's hygiene behavior and health outcomes in response to the COVID-19 situation. For this, at the household level, we will collect information on self-reported handwashing practices, income, health status, and HWSs along with other relevant socio-demographic variables in detail. In addition, we will observe people's mobility, mask usage at public places, and the HWSs usage; and will associate the observed HWSs usage with their self-reported health outcomes. This study will conduct surveys on households (7,760) and public (5,820) in 20 sub-districts of Mymensingh, Khulna, and Dhaka divisions.
Overall, this study is expected to directly benefit study participants and their communities by unveiling new evidence to inform BRAC's existing hygiene behavioral change programming in these communities. In addition, this information will yield future societal benefits by generating evidence on how to effectively implement and disseminate infrastructure and information that people can trust, believe, and use to form healthy hygiene habits.
Read the detailed description
In line with the overall goals of HBCC for reducing the transmission of COVID-19 via rapid response interventions to raise awareness and enacting long-term behaviour change regarding people's personal and environmental hygiene habits, BRAC has taken an adaptive approach under the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Collation (HBCC) platform. The aim of this project is to systematically change the behaviour of people across communities in Bangladesh via interventions such as setting up handwashing stations and broadcasting behaviourally-informed messages to nudge people to adopt healthier prevention and response practices.
To achieve the overall goals of the project and positively impact the lives of over 10 million people in communities across Bangladesh, BRAC primarily chose 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions) for implementing the interventions, namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna. The prime activity is to install 1,000 handwashing stations across these sub-districts to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. The BRAC handwashing stations have been designed to enhance both availability and inclusiveness, fitted with foot-operated pedals for dispensing water and liquid soap, to reduce contact with sink surfaces and thereby reduce probability of transmission from the device surface. They have been fitted with posters, promoting handwashing with proper technique, and have also been designed to allow hand-washers to maintain social distance while using the devices.
In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution. After the economy opened up in Bangladesh after a long lockdown, the community engagement activities in the form of in-person communication and forum discussions, to motivate people to uptake safe hygiene behaviours including but not limited to regular handwashing. In these demonstrations and meetings, the participants are motivated to adopt recommended hygiene behaviours such as handwashing with soap, mask usage and disposal, sneezing etiquette, social distancing, etc. Along with the BRAC staff, the WASH entrepreneurs who are members of the local community whom BRAC traditionally supports with free training in entrepreneurship and market development to improve the communities' access and knowledge of hygiene products. The HBCC project empowers them with responsibilities to disseminate the messages of the recommended behaviours and distribute the soap in the communities across the intervention areas, especially the poorest of the poor community and the participants who attend the meetings regularly.
Primary Outcomes (end points)
The main outcome variables of interest in this study are:
- daily handwashing frequency ii) likelihood of using soap when handwashing iii) prevalence of transmissible diseases in the past 15 days Primary Outcomes (explanation) i) constructed using the self-reported daily frequency of handwashing and typical handwashing times ii) constructed using self-report (times out of 10), rapid observation of the presence of soap near handwashing facilities, and self-reported expenditure on soap iii) constructed using self-report of symptoms and specific diseases Secondary Outcomes i) knowledge of handwashing practices ii) attitudes towards handwashing iii) use of public handwashing stations and alternatives to public handwashing stations iii) frequency of mask-wearing
- Conditions
- Hygiene Practices and Knowledge
- Being tested
- Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap, No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control), Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project, HBCC project and Soap
- Keywords
- Handwashing station, mask usage, behvaioural change
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Handwashing stations at the public places and no soapBehavioural
Also called In-person demonstration
BRAC has built 1000 handwashing stations in 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions), namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna, to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution from BRAC. However, this group did not receive any soap from the research team.
No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control)Behavioural
In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project. Also, the research team did not distribute soap to these households
Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC projectBehavioural
In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project but the research team randomly selected this group for soap distribution.
HBCC project and SoapBehavioural
These households belong to those villages where the HBCC project has been implemented and also received the soap from the research team.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| HBCC and no soap | Experimental | BRAC has built 1000 handwashing stations in 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions), namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna, to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution from BRAC. However, this group did not receive any soap from the research team. Receives: Behavioral: Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap |
| No HBCC project and no soap | Experimental | In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project. Also, the research team did not distribute soap to these households Receives: Behavioral: No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control) |
| Soap received but no HBCC | Experimental | In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project but the research team randomly selected this group for soap distribution. Receives: Behavioral: Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project |
| Both HBCC project and Soap received | Experimental | These households belong to those villages where the HBCC project has been implemented and also received the soap from the research team. Receives: Behavioral: HBCC project and Soap |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Daily handwashing frequency
Constructed using the self-reported daily frequency of handwashing and typical handwashing times
Measured: One day
Likelihood of using soap when handwashing
Constructed using self-report (times out of 10), rapid observation of the presence of soap near handwashing facilities, and self-reported expenditure on soap
Measured: One day
Prevalence of transmissible diseases in the past 15 days
Constructed using self-report of symptoms and specific diseases
Measured: In last 15 days
Secondary outcomes (4)
Knowledge of handwashing practices
Self-reported knowledge on handwashing practices
Measured: 3 months
Attitudes
Attitudes towards handwashing
Measured: 3 months
Handwashing at the public places
Use of public handwashing stations and alternatives to public handwashing stations
Measured: 3 months
Mask usage
Frequency of mask-wearing
Measured: 3 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted15 Feb 2021
- Study start19 Sep 2020
- Primary completionMay 2021 (estimated)
- Study completionMay 2021 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Hygiene Practices and KnowledgeStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Factorial
- Model description
- From each of 20 sub-district, out of potential villages for a public handwashing stations (HWS) we randomly selected 10 villages, of which 5 are assigned to control group or non-HBCC intervention villages and 5 are assigned to treatment group receiving the interventions. We have 98 control and 96 treatment villages due to an insufficient number of selected villages in one sub-district. First round survey revealed significant increase in soap use and not-significant decrease in handwashing (HW) frequency and soap expenditure. Our hypothesis is that there might be causality between HW and soap use. To test this, we provide soap to randomly selected 50% of our surveyed households, stratified at the sub-district level. 1,909 and 1,933 hhs from treatment and control villages received soap. Due to nationwide lockdown, we conducted follow-up phone survey. Also, to minimize Ramadan effect, we randomly divided the sample into two groups- to be surveyed before (44%) and during Ramadan (56%).
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 3,840 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- BRAC University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- The Behavioural Insights Team, Brac
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04753645
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- BIGD2021
- Acronym
- (BIGD-HBCC)
- Status last verified
- May 2021
- First submitted
- 11 Feb 2021
- Last updated
- 12 May 2021
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 12 May 2021. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Effect of Public Handwashing Stations on Health Behaviour and Outcomes During COVID-19
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04753645
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- (BIGD-HBCC) / BIGD2021
- Conditions
- Hygiene Practices and Knowledge
- Keywords
- Handwashing station, mask usage, behvaioural change
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Unknown status
- Enrolment
- 3,840 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- BRAC UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- The Behavioural Insights Team, Brac
- Study start
- 19 Sep 2020 (actual)
- Primary completion
- May 2021 (estimated)
- Study completion
- May 2021 (estimated)
- First posted
- 15 Feb 2021 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
In line with BRAC's overall goals to limit the COVID19 transmission, BRAC has constructed 1,000 handwashing stations coupled with other supports i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of public handwashing stations (HWSs) on people's hygiene behavior and health outcomes in response to the COVID-19 situation. For this, at the household level, we will collect information on self-reported handwashing practices, income, health status, and HWSs along with other relevant socio-demographic variables in detail. In addition, we will observe people's mobility, mask usage at public places, and the HWSs usage; and will associate the observed HWSs usage with their self-reported health outcomes. This study will conduct surveys on households (7,760) and public (5,820) in 20 sub-districts of Mymensingh, Khulna, and Dhaka divisions.
Overall, this study is expected to directly benefit study participants and their communities by unveiling new evidence to inform BRAC's existing hygiene behavioral change programming in these communities. In addition, this information will yield future societal benefits by generating evidence on how to effectively implement and disseminate infrastructure and information that people can trust, believe, and use to form healthy hygiene habits.
Detailed description
In line with the overall goals of HBCC for reducing the transmission of COVID-19 via rapid response interventions to raise awareness and enacting long-term behaviour change regarding people's personal and environmental hygiene habits, BRAC has taken an adaptive approach under the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Collation (HBCC) platform. The aim of this project is to systematically change the behaviour of people across communities in Bangladesh via interventions such as setting up handwashing stations and broadcasting behaviourally-informed messages to nudge people to adopt healthier prevention and response practices.
To achieve the overall goals of the project and positively impact the lives of over 10 million people in communities across Bangladesh, BRAC primarily chose 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions) for implementing the interventions, namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna. The prime activity is to install 1,000 handwashing stations across these sub-districts to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. The BRAC handwashing stations have been designed to enhance both availability and inclusiveness, fitted with foot-operated pedals for dispensing water and liquid soap, to reduce contact with sink surfaces and thereby reduce probability of transmission from the device surface. They have been fitted with posters, promoting handwashing with proper technique, and have also been designed to allow hand-washers to maintain social distance while using the devices.
In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution. After the economy opened up in Bangladesh after a long lockdown, the community engagement activities in the form of in-person communication and forum discussions, to motivate people to uptake safe hygiene behaviours including but not limited to regular handwashing. In these demonstrations and meetings, the participants are motivated to adopt recommended hygiene behaviours such as handwashing with soap, mask usage and disposal, sneezing etiquette, social distancing, etc. Along with the BRAC staff, the WASH entrepreneurs who are members of the local community whom BRAC traditionally supports with free training in entrepreneurship and market development to improve the communities' access and knowledge of hygiene products. The HBCC project empowers them with responsibilities to disseminate the messages of the recommended behaviours and distribute the soap in the communities across the intervention areas, especially the poorest of the poor community and the participants who attend the meetings regularly.
Primary Outcomes (end points)
The main outcome variables of interest in this study are:
- daily handwashing frequency ii) likelihood of using soap when handwashing iii) prevalence of transmissible diseases in the past 15 days Primary Outcomes (explanation) i) constructed using the self-reported daily frequency of handwashing and typical handwashing times ii) constructed using self-report (times out of 10), rapid observation of the presence of soap near handwashing facilities, and self-reported expenditure on soap iii) constructed using self-report of symptoms and specific diseases Secondary Outcomes i) knowledge of handwashing practices ii) attitudes towards handwashing iii) use of public handwashing stations and alternatives to public handwashing stations iii) frequency of mask-wearing
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Factorial
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 4
- Model description
- From each of 20 sub-district, out of potential villages for a public handwashing stations (HWS) we randomly selected 10 villages, of which 5 are assigned to control group or non-HBCC intervention villages and 5 are assigned to treatment group receiving the interventions. We have 98 control and 96 treatment villages due to an insufficient number of selected villages in one sub-district. First round survey revealed significant increase in soap use and not-significant decrease in handwashing (HW) frequency and soap expenditure. Our hypothesis is that there might be causality between HW and soap use. To test this, we provide soap to randomly selected 50% of our surveyed households, stratified at the sub-district level. 1,909 and 1,933 hhs from treatment and control villages received soap. Due to nationwide lockdown, we conducted follow-up phone survey. Also, to minimize Ramadan effect, we randomly divided the sample into two groups- to be surveyed before (44%) and during Ramadan (56%).
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| HBCC and no soap | Experimental | Behavioral: Handwashing stations at the public places and no soapBRAC has built 1000 handwashing stations in 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions), namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna, to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution from BRAC. However, this group did not receive any soap from the research team. |
| No HBCC project and no soap | Experimental | Behavioral: No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control)In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project. Also, the research team did not distribute soap to these households |
| Soap received but no HBCC | Experimental | Behavioral: Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC projectIn these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project but the research team randomly selected this group for soap distribution. |
| Both HBCC project and Soap received | Experimental | Behavioral: HBCC project and SoapThese households belong to those villages where the HBCC project has been implemented and also received the soap from the research team. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 10 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Must live in the villages where BRAC is implementing the interventions
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- -
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Handwashing stations at the public places and no soapAlso: In-person demonstrationBRAC has built 1000 handwashing stations in 20 sub-districts from 3 divisions (out of a total of 8 divisions), namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna, to increase the access of communities to handwashing facilities. In addition to these handwashing stations, there are other supports available in the intervention areas i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution from BRAC. However, this group did not receive any soap from the research team. | Behavioural | HBCC and no soap |
| No activities of the HBCC project and also no soap (Pure Control)In these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project. Also, the research team did not distribute soap to these households | Behavioural | No HBCC project and no soap |
| Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC projectIn these randomly selected villages, BRAC did not implement any activity of its HBCC project but the research team randomly selected this group for soap distribution. | Behavioural | Soap received but no HBCC |
| HBCC project and SoapThese households belong to those villages where the HBCC project has been implemented and also received the soap from the research team. | Behavioural | Both HBCC project and Soap received |
Primary outcome
Daily handwashing frequency
Time frame: One day
Constructed using the self-reported daily frequency of handwashing and typical handwashing times
Likelihood of using soap when handwashing
Time frame: One day
Constructed using self-report (times out of 10), rapid observation of the presence of soap near handwashing facilities, and self-reported expenditure on soap
Prevalence of transmissible diseases in the past 15 days
Time frame: In last 15 days
Constructed using self-report of symptoms and specific diseases
4 secondary outcomes
Knowledge of handwashing practices
Time frame: 3 months
Attitudes
Time frame: 3 months
Handwashing at the public places
Time frame: 3 months
Mask usage
Time frame: 3 months
Results and safety
Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 12 May 2021.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Handwashing stations at the public places and no soap, Soap distributed but no activities of the HBCC project and HBCC project and Soap in people with Hygiene Practices and Knowledge, run by BRAC University at 1 site in Bangladesh.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 12 May 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Bangladesh. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Results are not available in the source record.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Daily handwashing frequency (time frame: One day). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 12 May 2021.