Parents and guardians are instructed to collect data for the enrolled child. Following the installation of the device, participants complete an online intake baseline questionnaire, which covers demographics, household composition, domestic animals in and around the home, diaper use, water consumption and medications. At least 7 days after the device is installed, participants begin to receive weekly text messages asking if their child exhibited signs/symptoms of GI or acute respiratory infection (ARI) in the previous week. Prior studies of drinking water interventions have relied on paper-based symptom diaries often returned biweekly or monthly, which can be prone to recall bias.27 32 (link) More frequent contact and more prompt response through weekly SMS is likely to reduce such bias. Participants respond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to these text messages. When symptoms are reported, participants are texted (or emailed) a link to an online illness questionnaire that requests information on symptom type, severity, onset and duration. The illness questionnaire also includes questions on potential other sources of infection, including travel, food and daycare during the 7-day pre-illness exposure period. The illness questionnaire uses an interactive calendar feature (figure 4 ) to aid recall. Text message responses and illness questionnaires are compiled in a secure, online dashboard so that select members of the research team (eg, trial manager) can conduct additional follow-up via phone, text or email for participants who have not responded within 48 hours of receiving their initial text or questionnaire link.
Online midpoint and exit questionnaires, similar to the baseline instrument, are administered to assess for changes in child or household characteristics since the baseline period. Additionally, the exit questionnaire requests participants to guess their intervention group so that we can assess the effectiveness of blinding by the James Blinding Index.33 34 (link) Midpoint and exit questionnaires are also compiled in the dashboard. All survey instruments can be found inonline supplemental text S3–S9 .
Online midpoint and exit questionnaires, similar to the baseline instrument, are administered to assess for changes in child or household characteristics since the baseline period. Additionally, the exit questionnaire requests participants to guess their intervention group so that we can assess the effectiveness of blinding by the James Blinding Index.33 34 (link) Midpoint and exit questionnaires are also compiled in the dashboard. All survey instruments can be found in
