Shitol Sharmin Akter, Aftab Ishrat Binte, Piyasena Prabhath, Lohfeld Lynne, Rayasam Sridevi, Challa Nagamani, Sangani Payal, Sigwadhi Lovemore Nyasha, Rahman H M Masudur, Khanna Rohit C, Chan Ving Fai, Barua Mrittika, Pant Sonia, Adhvaryu Achyuta, Nyshadham Anant, Sarker Malabika, Mettla Asha Latha, Haque Enam, MacKenzie Graeme, Alam Sadiq, Gudwin Ella, Clarke Mike, Shonchoy Abu, Rabbani Atonu, Congdon Nathan
BRAC University James P Grant School of Public Health, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
BMJ Open. 2024 Dec 23;14(12):e085083. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085083.
Presbyopia, difficulty in seeing close-ups, affects a billion people globally. Mobile financial services (MFS) have been mandated since January 2021 for Bangladesh government social safety net payments, including old age allowance (OAA) and widow allowance (WA). We report the protocol for the Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology randomised trial assessing the impact on the use of online banking of providing presbyopic safety net beneficiaries with reading glasses, and brief smartphone and mobile banking app training.
Eligible participants (n=484) are OAA (men aged 65-70 years; women aged 62-70) or WA recipients (women aged 48-60) with presbyopia as their only vision problem, passing a smartphone-based test of numeracy, cognition and dexterity, and not currently owning a smartphone or independently using MFS. All participants receive smartphones loaded with a mobile banking app and a transaction-tracking app and are randomised 1:1 to receive immediate free near-vision glasses and half-day training for smartphone and banking app use (intervention), or glasses and training 12 months later (control). The primary outcome is the mean quarterly number of mobile bank transactions over the 12-month follow-up period, comparing study groups, with and without adjustment. Secondary outcomes include food security, healthcare access and social connectedness.
The protocol was approved by ethics committees at Queen's University Belfast (reference #MHLS22_69) and BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (reference #IRB-21 August'22-028). The trial is conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and national regulations in Bangladesh, and results will be published in open-access, peer-reviewed journals.
NCT05510687; ClinicalTrials.gov.
老花眼，即难以看清近处物体，全球有十亿人受其影响。自2021年1月起，移动金融服务（MFS）被规定用于孟加拉国政府的社会安全网支付，包括老年津贴（OAA）和寡妇津贴（WA）。我们报告了“通过验光和创新金融技术改变家庭”随机试验的方案，该试验评估了为老花眼社会安全网受益人提供老花镜、简短的智能手机和移动银行应用程序培训对网上银行使用的影响。
符合条件的参与者（n = 484）为老年津贴领取者（65 - 70岁男性；62 - 70岁女性）或寡妇津贴领取者（48 - 60岁女性），其唯一的视力问题是老花眼，通过基于智能手机的算术、认知和灵活性测试，且目前没有智能手机或未独立使用移动金融服务。所有参与者都会收到预装了移动银行应用程序和交易跟踪应用程序的智能手机，并按1:1随机分组，一组立即获得免费的近视力眼镜以及为期半天的智能手机和银行应用程序使用培训（干预组），另一组在12个月后获得眼镜和培训（对照组）。主要结局是在12个月的随访期内，比较研究组经过调整和未调整的移动银行交易季度平均数。次要结局包括食品安全、医疗保健获取和社会联系。
该方案已获得贝尔法斯特女王大学伦理委员会（参考编号#MHLS22_69）和BRAC詹姆斯·P·格兰特公共卫生学院伦理委员会（参考编号#IRB - 21 August'22 - 028）的批准。该试验按照《赫尔辛基宣言》和孟加拉国的国家规定进行，结果将发表在开放获取、同行评审的期刊上。
NCT05510687；ClinicalTrials.gov。
