Assessing a Community-Based Maternal Self-Efficacy Intervention in Rural India using a Quasi-Experimental Design

More than 175 million people in India live below the poverty line and are concentrated in rural areas. Families in rural Indian communities may benefit from interventions that support long-term well-being. Maternal self-efficacy (MSE) may be an important target for interventions given prior associations with positive maternal and child outcomes. The present study examined MSE in a pilot community-based group intervention delivered in rural North India. Using convenience sampling recruitment and a quasi-experimental design, 97 mothers (79 self-identified as low-caste) with at least one child between 0-24 months who engaged in the intervention were compared with a matched control group (n = 219; 114 low-caste). Findings suggest that participation in the intervention was associated with higher MSE (ss = .294, p = .020) and the positive association was stronger amongst mothers from low-caste groups who participated in the intervention (ss = .390, p = .008). MSE may be malleable with the right approach and could be an important target for public health interventions, particularly for low-caste groups in rural India.