A mother’s voice: Impacts of spousal communication training on child health investments
评估了乌干达一项针对母亲的沟通培训项目，发现它增加了夫妻间关于健康、营养和财务的讨论，提高了动物性食品消费和新生儿出生体重，但未改善其他儿童健康指标。
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.