A mother's voice: Impacts of spousal communication training on child health investments

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Nyqvist, Martina Bjorkman; Jayachandran, Seema; Zipfel, Celine
• 署名单位: Stockholm School of Economics; Princeton University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103263
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: Child health; Spousal communication; decision-making

摘要

This study evaluates a communication training program for mothers in Uganda, motivated by prior evidence suggesting that mothers often prioritize children's needs more than fathers. The program aims to enable women to effectively communicate their knowledge and preferences about child health to their husbands, thereby increasing investments in children's health. Using a randomized experiment, we find that the program increases spousal discussion about the family's health, nutrition, and finances. It also increases women's and children's intake of animal -sourced foods, as well as household spending on these foods. We find that birthweight of newborns increases. However, the program did not increase households' adoption of measured health -promoting behaviors or improve other child anthropometric measures.