Dataset for: Results of a cluster-randomised controlled equivalence trial of the Surprise Soap hand washing intervention among older children living in a refugee settlement in Sudan - User Guide

Permanent identifier

10.17037/DATA.00003563

Description

Increasing handwashing with soap (HWWS) among older children in emergency settings can have a large public health impact, however, evidence on what works is limited. One promising approach is the ‘Surprise Soap’ intervention in which a novel soap with an embedded toy is delivered to children in a short, participatory household session. This dataset contains the results of a cluster-randomised controlled equivalence trial to evaluate the Surprise Soap intervention against a standard intervention in a complex emergency setting.

Data collection methods

Methods: A cluster-randomised controlled equivalence trial was conducted in Naivasha refugee settlement, Sudan. Blinding was not possible. 203 randomly selected households, with at least one child aged 5-12, were randomised to receive the Surprise Soap intervention (n=101) or a standard intervention comprising a short household session with health messaging and plain soap distribution (n=102). The primary outcome was the proportion of pre-specified potential HWWS events observed for children aged 5-12, accompanied by HWWS, at baseline, four-, twelve-, and sixteen-weeks post intervention delivery.

Results: 200 households were included in the analyses: 101 intervention and 99 control. No difference in intervention effectiveness was observed at any follow-up (four-weeks: adjusted RR=1.2, 95% CI 0.8–1.7; twelve-weeks: RR=0.8, 95% CI 0.5–1.1; sixteen-weeks: RR=1.0, 95% CI 0.7–1.4). However, we observed increased HWWS in both arms at four-weeks (27 and 23 percentage point increase in the intervention and control arm, respectively) that was sustained at sixteen-weeks.

Conclusions: Our results may indicate that HWWS interventions that directly target children at the household level, provide soap, and instruct children how and when to practice HWWS are important public health interventions in emergencies. Applying contextual knowledge to decisions on Surprise Soap implementation is recommended; in emergencies where soap access and exposure to handwashing promotion are low, there appears to be no marginal benefits that justify additional costs compared to the standard intervention.

Geographic regions

Naivasha refugee settlement, Sudan

Key dates

• Data Collection Period: 1 October 2021 - 31 March 2022
• Date of submission to repository : 13 July 2023

Population

203 randomly selected households, with at least one child aged 5-12, who were living in the Naivasha refugee settlement, Sudan.

Privacy

All ID values have been replaced with new unlinked IDs.

The dataset contains information on household membership, respondent gender, education level, child age and gender. These are not considered identifiable within the environment in which data was collected - Naivasha is a large settlement that contains more than 10,000 displaced persons, with many people having moved to other areas after research completion.

Ethics

Keywords

Handwashing, Humanitarian, Intervention

Language of written material

English

Project information

Creators

File description