Implementation and evaluation of a family planning intervention engaging mothers-in-law of young women in India: a mixed methods pilot study.

Background: Despite evidence that mothers-in-law (MILs) influence daughters-in-law's (DILs) fertility and family planning decisions in South Asia, emphasizing early fertility and male grandchildren, few reproductive health interventions engage MILs directly.

Objectives: We assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and qualitative impact of a reproductive health and life skill-based intervention on MILs in tribal Rajasthan, India, using a mixed-methods, single-group cluster pilot study.

Methods: We tested a light-touch four-session intervention delivered over 4 months to MILs of newly married women that covered MILs' health, conception, and communication with DILs and sons and addressed modern healthcare misconceptions, while challenging son preference and fertility norms.

Factors associated with Anganwadi Workers' service delivery of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in rural India: A cross-sectional analysis of household and community health worker surveys.

Objectives: India's 1.4 million Anganwadi Workers (AWW), a type of community health worker (CHW), serve 158 million beneficiaries under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program. They play a crucial role in facilitating the delivery of nutrition services at the village level in India.

Effectiveness of Kushal Maa, a group-based mhealth interactive education and social support intervention for maternal and neonatal health outcomes: study protocol for a multisite randomised controlled trial in India.

Introduction: Perinatal care continuity across the full continuum is essential for optimising maternal and infant health; however, a stark gap occurs post partum, with less than one half of Indian mothers receiving postpartum care due to significant logistical and sociocultural barriers, particularly for periurban and rural residents. To overcome these barriers and reduce women's postpartum isolation, our international team of maternal and infant health clinicians and researchers developed and pilot-tested a culturally-tailored mobile interactive education and support group intervention, ), confirming feasibility and acceptability and preliminary effectiveness. The current study seeks to estimate the effectiveness of the intervention compared with standard care on maternal and neonatal health-related behaviours and health, characterise the mechanisms of intervention impact and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention in improving postpartum maternal and neonatal health compared with the standard of care.

Preliminary Effectiveness of a Postnatal mHealth and Virtual Social Support Intervention on Newborn and Infant Health and Feeding Practices in Punjab, India: Quasi-Experimental Pre-Post Pilot Study.

Background: We evaluated a pilot mobile health (mHealth) intervention aimed at improving postnatal maternal and infant health. The intervention featured provider-led group sessions for education, health care communication, in-person care referrals, and virtual mHealth support for postpartum mothers through weekly calls, texts, interactive voice response (IVR), and a phone app.

Objective: We aimed to assess the preliminary effectiveness of the pilot mHealth intervention, MeSSSSage (Maa Shishu Swasthya Sahayak Samooh, which means maternal and child health support group), on infant health knowledge, behaviors, and outcomes at 6 months post partum.

Marital choice, spousal communication, and contraceptive self-efficacy and use among newly married girls in India: Evidence from the UDAYA study.

Background: Marital choice of girls in India is low, with most marriages arranged entirely by parents and extended family members. Evidence on the relationship between marital choice and reproductive autonomy remains limited in India. This study sought to fill this critical gap by examining the association between marital choice, spousal communication, and contraceptive self-efficacy and use.

Effects of economic empowerment and relationship strengthening intervention on financial behaviors among couples living with HIV: The pilot trial in Malawi.

Introduction: Economic insecurity, relationship issues, and gender-based financial disparities pose significant challenges for couples living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, potentially undermining treatment adherence and health outcomes. We evaluated , an integrated economic empowerment with relationship strengthening intervention for couples living with HIV.

Methods: We conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial in Zomba, Malawi with 78 married couples (156 individuals) living with HIV and reporting unhealthy alcohol use based on the AUDIT-C.

Preliminary impact of an mHealth education and social support intervention on maternal health knowledge and outcomes among postpartum mothers in Punjab, India.

Background: Significant disruptions in the perinatal continuum of care occur postpartum in India, despite it being a critical time to optimize maternal health and wellbeing. Group-oriented mHealth approaches may help mitigate the impact of limited access to care and the lack of social support that characterize this period. Our team developed and pilot tested a provider-moderated group intervention to increase education, communication with providers, to refer participants to in-person care, and to connect them with a virtual social support group of other mothers with similarly aged infants through weekly calls and text chat.

The role of community-level men's and women's inequitable gender norms on women's empowerment in India: A multilevel analysis using India's National Family Health Survey-5.

Background: Lower empowerment of women is a critical social issue with adverse public health implications. In India, deeply ingrained gender norms shape a patriarchal structure that creates systemic disadvantages for women relative to men. These gender norms-socially constructed expectations about the roles, behaviors, and attributes of men and women-perpetuate inequality and limit women's opportunities.

Association between coordinated counseling from both ASHA and Anganwadi Workers and maternal health outcomes: A cross-sectional study from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, India.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) play crucial roles in health promotion and services in rural India. Previous research investigating the effectiveness of coordinated health promotion by different community health workers (CHWs) cadres on health practices is scarce. This study examines the effectiveness of coordinated health promotion by different CHW cadres, specifically Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi Workers (AWW), on maternal health outcomes.

Feasibility and acceptability of a life skills and reproductive health empowerment interventionfor young newly married women in Rajasthan, India: A pre-post convergent mixed methods pilot study.

Background: Newly married young women face increased susceptibility to adverse health outcomes, social isolation, and disempowerment, yet interventions targeting this vulnerable group remain limited. We examined the feasibility and acceptability of TARANG, a life skills and reproductive health empowerment intervention, developed for and with young newly married women.

Methods: We recruited 42 newly married women as participants in our study.

Perinatal depression and adverse child growth outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Perinatal depression (PND), which encompasses the antepartum and postpartum depression (APD and PPD), is a neglected crisis in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to systematically search and meta-analyze existing evidence to determine whether a mother's PND affects adverse growth outcomes in children in LMICs (PROSPERO protocol: CRD42021246803). We conducted searches, including nine databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, Global Health Database, Google Scholar, WHO Regional Databases, PsycINFO, and LILACS) from January 2000 to September 2023.

Individual empowerment and community norm effects of engaging young husbands in reproductive health in rural India: findings from a pilot study.

Background: Despite decades of a call to action to engage men in reproductive health, men are often left out of programs and interventions. In India, where half of pregnancies are reported as unintended, patriarchal gender norms and still dominant patterns of arranged marriages make engaging men in family planning and strengthening couples communication critical in increasing reproductive autonomy and helping young couples meet their reproductive goals. This study explores the feasibility and acceptability from the men's perspective of the pilot of a gender transformative intervention for newly married couples in India.

Individual empowerment and community norm effects of engaging young husbands in reproductive health in rural India: findings from a pilot study.

Background: Despite decades of a call to action to engage men in reproductive health, men are often left out of programs and interventions. In India, where half of pregnancies are reported as unintended, patriarchal gender norms and still dominant patterns of arranged marriages make engaging men in family planning and strengthening couples communication critical in increasing reproductive autonomy and helping young couples meet their reproductive goals. This study explores the feasibility and acceptability from the men's perspective of the pilot of a gender transformative intervention for newly married couples in India.

Life skills and reproductive health empowerment intervention for newly married women and their families to reduce unintended pregnancy in India: protocol for the TARANG cluster randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: In South Asia, younger women have high rates of unmet need for family planning and low empowerment. Life skills interventions can equip young women with agency, but the effectiveness of these interventions in reproductive and sexual autonomy and contraception has not been examined.

Methods And Analysis: A two-arm, parallel, cluster randomised controlled trial will evaluate the impact of TARANG (Transforming Actions for Reaching and Nurturing Gender Equity and Empowerment), a life skills and reproductive health empowerment group-based intervention for newly married women, compared with usual services in the community in rural and tribal Rajasthan, India.

Temporary childbirth migration and maternal health care in India.

Background: Women in South Asia often return to their natal home during pregnancy, for childbirth, and stay through the postpartum period-potentially impacting access to health care and health outcomes in this important period. However, this phenomenon is understudied (and not even named) in the demographic or health literature, nor do we know how it impacts health.

Objective: The aim of this study is to measure the magnitude, timing, duration, risk factors and impact on care of this phenomenon, which we name Temporary Childbirth Migration.

Markets, incentives, and health promotion can improve family planning and maternal health practices: a quasi-experimental evaluation of a tech-enabled social franchising and social marketing platform in India.

Background: Improving family planning and maternal health outcomes are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. While evidence on the effectiveness of government-driven public health programs is extensive, more research is needed on effectiveness of private-sector interventions, especially in low- and middle-income countries. We evaluated the impacts of a commercial social-franchising and social-marketing program - Tiko Platform - which created a local ecosystem of health promoters, healthcare providers, pharmacies, stockists/wholesalers, and lifestyle shops.

Preliminary impact of an mHealth education and social support intervention on maternal health knowledge and outcomes among postpartum mothers in Punjab, India.

Background: Significant disruptions in the perinatal continuum of care occur postpartum in India, despite it being a critical time to optimize maternal health and wellbeing. Group-oriented mHealth approaches may help mitigate the impact of limited access to care and the lack of social support that characterize this period. Our team developed and pilot tested a provider-moderated group intervention to increase education, communication with providers, to refer participants to in-person care, and to connect them with a virtual social support group of other mothers with similarly aged infants through weekly calls and text chat.

The Role of Gender Norms on Intimate Partner Violence Among Newly Married Adolescent Girls and Young Women in India: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis.

Gender norms have been posited to impact intimate partner violence (IPV), but there is scant evidence of the longitudinal association between community-level gender norms and IPV. Using longitudinal data on 3,965 married girls surveyed in India, we fitted mixed-effects ordinal and binary logistic regression models for physical IPV intensity and occurrence of sexual IPV. We found a 26% increase in the odds that women experience frequent physical IPV per one unit increase in greater community-level equitable gender norms.

Role of marriage, motherhood, son preference on adolescent girls' and young women's empowerment: Evidence from a panel study in India.

Background: Marriage is a key determinant of health and well-being of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in India. It is a key life event in which girls move to their marital households, often co-residing with their in-laws and begin childbearing. The change in the normative environment in conjunction with cultural norms surrounding son preference influences women's overall life course.

The relationship between the gendered norm of eating last and mental health of newly married women in Nepal: A longitudinal study.

Eating last is a gendered cultural norm in which the youngest daughters-in-law are expected to eat last after serving others in the household, including men and in-laws. Using women's eating last as an indicator of women's status, we studied the association between eating last and women's mental health. Using four rounds of prospective cohort data of 18-25-year-old newly married women (n = 200) cohabiting with mothers-in-law between 2018 and 2020 in the Nawalparasi district of Nepal, we examined the association between women eating last and depressive symptom severity (measured using 15-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist for Depression; HSCL-D).

Exploratory qualitative study examining acceptability of strategies to improve access to substance use treatment and HIV prevention services for young adults on probation in Ukraine.

Objective: Adults <30 years' of age experience elevated HIV-rates in Ukraine. Young adults (YA) involved in the criminal justice system (CJS) are at an increased HIV-risk given elevated rates of substance use, engagement in high-risk sexual behaviour and insufficient healthcare access. The objective of this exploratory study was to investigate the acceptability of strategies to refer and link CJS-involved YA to HIV-prevention and substance use treatment services from CJS settings.

Can digitally enabling community health and nutrition workers improve services delivery to pregnant women and mothers of infants? Quasi-experimental evidence from a national-scale nutrition programme in India.

Background: India's 1.4 million community health and nutrition workers (CHNWs) serve 158 million beneficiaries under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. We assessed the impact of a data capture, decision support, and job-aid mobile app for the CHNWs on two primary outcomes-(1) timeliness of home visits and (2) appropriate counselling specific to the needs of pregnant women and mothers of children <12 months.