Overview
The goal of the cluster randomized trial is to evaluate the impact of a reproductive health and empowerment intervention (TARANG) compared to the standard of care health information (control group) on the prevalence of contraceptive use and time-to-pregnancy (primary outcomes) in Rajasthan, India.
Participants will participate in TARANG intervention and receive the following sessions:
- Navigating newly formed relationships (e.g. spousal communication, healthy relationships with in-laws, establishing peer network, and negotiation skills)
- Improving women's awareness of sexual reproductive health
- Challenging inequitable gender norms with an aim to reduce unintended pregnancies.
- Life skills education to enable them to have improved social mobility, decision-making, and agency.
Investigators will compare the TARANG intervention with the standard of care to see if it delays unintended pregnancies among women.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria for newly married women:
- Age 18-25 years at the time of the wedding
- Married women have permanently moved in their husbands home in the most recent wedding season (recruitment month going backwards up to October of the previous year)
- Not wanting to get pregnant within 1 year at recruitment/enrollment
- Have not had a live birth previously and not currently pregnant
- Women not planning to migrate out of the area for the period of the intervention
• Has a living husband who is willing to consent and participate in the study in person or remotely (over phone)
- Has a living, co-residing mother-in-law type person* (see definition below) who is willing to consent and participate in the study in person (A mother-in-law type of person should be staying in the same household for the period of the intervention and has consented to participate in the study. Mother-in-law is defined as any senior woman (from a previous generation of the DIL) who are responsible for their daughter-in-law and cohabiting in the same household as their daughter-in-law (Note - household would mean a family unit which shares the same kitchen). This will usually be the biological mother of the husband, but it can be stepmother, grandmother, aunt, etc.)
Inclusion criteria for husband:
- 18 years or more at the time of the wedding
- Mother and wife are eligible for the study participation
Inclusion criteria for mother-in-law:
- Consent to participate in the study
- Assents for daughter-in-law to participate in the study
- Son and the daughter-in-law are eligible for study participation
Exclusion criteria for newly married women:
- Wanting to have a child in the next 12 months at the time of baseline
- Cognitive ability to participate in surveys