Community Medicine thesis topics, with the design and feasibility for eachCommunity Medicine thesis topics, with the design and feasibility for each

The sample figure on each plate is a planning range read off the design, not a calculated answer. Your own number comes from a calculation against your own assumptions — the difference you would call clinically meaningful, the variability in your setting, the power you want — and it belongs in the synopsis with those assumptions written beside it.

• Topic 01 / 44

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  Hypertension and its associated factors among adults aged above thirty in a rural field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion with blood pressure at or above a stated threshold on two readings at the same visit

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 500 to 900 adults, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A listed sampling frame for the field practice area, from the health worker register or a house listing
  • Two validated digital sphygmomanometers with matching cuffs, checked against each other
  • A field team of at least two, with a vehicle or transport allowance for repeat visits

  What derails it

  Working-age men are away from the house during survey hours, so a daytime-only schedule quietly produces a sample of women and the elderly; plan evening and Sunday visits from the start and record how many households needed a revisit.

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• Topic 02 / 44

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  Performance of a community-based diabetes risk score against capillary blood glucose screening among adults in an urban slum

  DesignDiagnostic accuracyFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Sensitivity and specificity of the risk score against a stated capillary glucose threshold

  Collection time

  10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 700 adults, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Glucometers with a validated strip supply and a disposal arrangement for lancets
  • An urban field practice area with a house listing or an anganwadi-based frame
  • A referral pathway for anyone screening high, agreed with the nearest health facility

  What derails it

  A capillary glucose reference standard is weaker than a venous or confirmatory test, and the ethics committee will want to know what you do for a person who screens positive; a study that screens and walks away will be sent back, so the referral arrangement must be written in before submission.

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• Topic 03 / 44

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  Anaemia and dietary practices among adolescent girls in government schools of an urban field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Haemoglobin concentration, categorised by World Health Organization age-specific thresholds

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 600 girls, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Written permission from the district education officer and each school head
  • A haemoglobinometer with a verified calibration routine and consumables for the whole sample
  • Parental consent and adolescent assent forms in the local language

  What derails it

  School permission is granted for a window that rarely matches your plan — examinations, vacations and election duty close schools for weeks at a time — so map the academic calendar against your fieldwork months before fixing a sample size.

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• Topic 04 / 44

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  Agreement between a point-of-care haemoglobinometer and the laboratory automated cell counter in a community screening setting

  DesignDiagnostic accuracyFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Agreement and mean difference between the two methods against the laboratory value as reference

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of collection

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 150 to 250 paired samples, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A point-of-care device with its own consumables and a written operating procedure
  • A cold-chain or timely transport arrangement to reach the laboratory within the stated interval
  • A collaborating pathology laboratory that will run the paired venous sample

  What derails it

  Paired sampling fails on the transport leg: venous samples that sit in a field bag for hours in the heat haemolyse and the laboratory rejects them, so fix a maximum field-to-laboratory interval and log the actual time for each sample.

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• Topic 05 / 44

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  Utilisation of antenatal care services and factors influencing it among recently delivered women in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion receiving the stated minimum number of antenatal contacts as defined by the national programme

  Collection time

  8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 450 women delivered in the preceding year, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A line list of recent deliveries from the health worker or the facility register
  • Access to mother and child protection cards as a documentary cross-check
  • A local-language interview schedule, pre-tested in a neighbouring village

  What derails it

  Reported antenatal visits and the visits documented on the card often disagree, because a woman may count an informal check at a private clinic as a visit; decide in the protocol whether the card or the recall is the primary source and report the discordance rather than burying it.

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• Topic 06 / 44

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  Immunisation coverage among children aged twelve to twenty-three months in a district, assessed by cluster sampling

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion fully immunised for age, by card and by history, with reasons for non-immunisation

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 210 to 300 children across thirty clusters, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A current list of villages or wards with population figures, to draw clusters with probability proportional to size
  • A field team of two or three and transport to reach scattered clusters
  • A standard coverage evaluation questionnaire adapted and pre-tested locally

  What derails it

  Cluster sampling means the analysis must account for the design effect, and a thesis that analyses thirty clusters as a simple random sample will be picked up at presentation; decide the design effect at the protocol stage because it changes the number of children you need.

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• Topic 07 / 44

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  Undernutrition among children under five registered at anganwadi centres in a rural field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion stunted, wasted and underweight by World Health Organization growth standards

  Collection time

  8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 600 children, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Calibrated infantometer, stadiometer and digital weighing scale, carried to each centre
  • Anganwadi registers for a sampling frame and the integrated child development services supervisor's co-operation
  • Date of birth verified from an immunisation card or birth record, not from recall alone

  What derails it

  Age in months is the variable that ruins anthropometric studies: a wrong date of birth turns a normal child into a stunted one, and recall ages cluster on round figures, so make a documented date of birth an inclusion criterion and count how many children you lose to it.

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• Topic 08 / 44

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  Infant and young child feeding practices among mothers of children below two years in an urban slum

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion meeting each of the stated core feeding indicators, including exclusive breastfeeding and minimum dietary diversity

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 450 mother-child pairs, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A house listing or anganwadi register covering the slum settlement
  • A 24-hour dietary recall schedule in the local language, pre-tested
  • A female investigator or field worker, since much of the interview is about feeding and the household kitchen

  What derails it

  Exclusive breastfeeding asked as a yes-or-no question invites the answer the mother knows is expected, so use the 24-hour recall definition and ask about water and honey separately rather than accepting the summary claim.

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• Topic 09 / 44

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  Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding menstrual hygiene among school-going adolescent girls in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Composite knowledge and safe-practice scores on a pre-tested structured questionnaire

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 500 girls, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • School and education department permission, plus parental consent and participant assent
  • A self-administered questionnaire in the local language with a private space to complete it
  • A female investigator and a plan for referral if a girl discloses a health problem

  What derails it

  Questionnaires filled in a classroom with a teacher present produce the answers the school wants to hear; insist on a separate room and seating that prevents overlooking, and record whether a teacher was in the room, because examiners ask exactly this.

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• Topic 10 / 44

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  Effect of a structured health education session on menstrual hygiene knowledge among adolescent schoolgirls

  DesignComparative interventionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Change in knowledge score from before the session to a stated interval afterwards

  Collection time

  10 to 12 months including the follow-up assessment

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 150 to 250 girls, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Two or more comparable schools, so that the intervention is not given and tested in the same classroom day
  • Teaching material and a trained facilitator delivering the same session each time
  • A follow-up assessment visit that the school has agreed to in advance

  What derails it

  The follow-up assessment is where these studies collapse: girls absent on the day, a school that has moved to examinations, or a class reshuffled between terms, so fix the interval to weeks rather than months and get the second visit date into the school's calendar when you take permission.

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• Topic 11 / 44

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  Pattern of tobacco use and willingness to quit among adult men in a rural field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion using any smoked or smokeless tobacco, with stage of readiness to quit

  Collection time

  7 to 9 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 600 men, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A household sampling frame and a schedule that reaches men outside working hours
  • A questionnaire covering both smoked and smokeless forms with local product names listed
  • A referral link to a tobacco cessation facility or the nearest health and wellness centre

  What derails it

  Smokeless products carry local names that a standard questionnaire does not contain, and respondents deny tobacco use while chewing it, so list every local preparation by name during pre-testing and show the list during the interview.

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• Topic 12 / 44

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  Alcohol use and its association with household expenditure among adult men in an urban field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion screening positive on a validated alcohol use disorders identification instrument

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 550 men, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A validated screening instrument with a local-language version and permission for use
  • Private interview conditions, which in a one-room household means waiting for the right moment
  • A referral route to a de-addiction or psychiatry service

  What derails it

  Answers collapse towards abstinence when any family member is within earshot, and in a crowded settlement that is most of the time; record for every interview whether it was private, and be prepared to report a sensitivity analysis restricted to the private ones.

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• Topic 13 / 44

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  Depressive symptoms and associated factors among the elderly in a rural field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion screening positive on a validated geriatric depression scale

  Collection time

  7 to 9 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 450 elderly residents, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A validated scale in the local language, with a known cut-off for screening
  • A list of households with elderly residents, usually from the health worker register
  • A referral pathway to psychiatry, named in the consent document

  What derails it

  Screening tools depend on hearing and on sustained attention, and some elderly respondents will have neither; decide in advance how a partially completed scale is handled and whether a proxy respondent is allowed, because improvised rules here invalidate the score.

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• Topic 14 / 44

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  Morbidity profile and quality of life among the elderly living in a rural community

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Quality of life domain scores on a validated instrument, against the recorded morbidity count

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 450 elderly residents, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A licensed local-language version of a quality of life instrument
  • A clinical examination component, so a medical officer or the investigator examines each participant
  • Transport for repeat visits, since elderly respondents tire and interviews run long

  What derails it

  A full quality of life instrument plus a morbidity history takes nearly an hour with an elderly respondent, and fatigue drives the later domains towards uniform answers; pilot the whole schedule end to end and, if it is too long, cut the instrument at the protocol stage rather than in the field.

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• Topic 15 / 44

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  Treatment outcomes of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis registered under the national programme in a district, over one year

  DesignCohortFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion with each programme-defined treatment outcome at the end of the regimen

  Collection time

  15 to 18 months including follow-up to outcome

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 250 to 400 registered patients, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Written permission from the district tuberculosis officer to use programme records
  • Access to treatment cards and the programme's digital register
  • A field visit route for patients who default, if loss to follow-up is among your variables

  What derails it

  Patients who move between treatment units are recorded as transferred out and vanish from your denominator, and they are disproportionately the ones doing badly; agree with the district unit at the outset how transfers will be traced, or say plainly that they are censored.

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• Topic 16 / 44

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  Factors associated with interruption of anti-tuberculosis treatment: a case-control study in a district programme setting

  DesignCase-controlFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Odds of candidate social, economic and service-related exposures in interrupters compared with completers

  Collection time

  10 to 12 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 80 to 120 cases with one or two controls each, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Programme records to identify interrupters and completers with current addresses
  • District programme permission and a field worker who knows the area
  • A pre-tested interview schedule covering distance, wage loss and side effects

  What derails it

  Cases are by definition the people who stopped coming, so their addresses are the least accurate in the register and a third may be untraceable; plan a replacement rule and report how many cases could not be found, because a study of only the traceable interrupters answers a narrower question.

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• Topic 17 / 44

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  Disability grading and self-care practices among persons affected by leprosy registered in a district

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Distribution of World Health Organization disability grade with a self-care practice score

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 120 to 200 registered persons, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • District leprosy programme records and permission to approach registered persons
  • Training in disability grading from a dermatology or programme consultant
  • A sensitivity-aware approach to home visits, since stigma affects willingness to be identified

  What derails it

  Registered persons do not want a visitor asking about leprosy in front of neighbours, and a refusal is likeliest in exactly the households with visible deformity; arrange contact through the programme worker who already visits them, and never identify the condition at the doorstep.

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• Topic 18 / 44

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  Household practices related to mosquito breeding source reduction in an urban ward with recurrent vector-borne disease transmission

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of households with a potential breeding container on inspection, alongside reported practice

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 450 households, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Municipal ward maps or a house listing for the sampling frame
  • A torch, a dipper and a written container inspection checklist
  • Co-operation from the municipal health staff who already work the ward

  What derails it

  Inspection findings depend on the season and on whether municipal fogging or a source reduction drive passed through the week before, so record the date of any municipal activity in each ward and keep fieldwork within a defined season rather than spread across the year.

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• Topic 19 / 44

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  Household water handling, sanitation facilities and reported diarrhoeal illness in children under five in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Two-week reported prevalence of diarrhoea in children under five, against a household sanitation and water handling score

  Collection time

  8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 550 households with an under-five child, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • An observation checklist for water storage and latrine use, not a questionnaire alone
  • A household sampling frame covering the selected villages
  • Optional water sample testing arranged with a public health laboratory, if included

  What derails it

  Latrine possession and latrine use are different variables and households report the first when asked about the second, so build in an observation item on whether the latrine is in working order and currently in use, and count how often the two answers disagree.

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• Topic 20 / 44

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  Evaluation of population-based screening for hypertension and diabetes at health and wellness centres in a block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of the eligible population screened and the proportion of those screened positive who reached a follow-up visit

  Collection time

  10 to 12 months of data collection

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 700 eligible adults plus facility records, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Permission from the district programme officer and access to screening registers
  • Community health officer co-operation at each selected centre
  • A household verification component, so that register entries are confirmed with residents

  What derails it

  Programme registers and household reality diverge, and staff can read an audit as fault-finding, so frame the study with the district unit as a service evaluation and agree in writing that individual centres will not be named in the thesis.

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• Topic 21 / 44

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  Knowledge of assigned tasks and reported difficulties among accredited social health activists in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Knowledge score on a structured task-based questionnaire, with reported barriers

  Collection time

  5 to 7 months of data collection

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 120 to 200 workers, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Block health office permission and access to the worker roster
  • A questionnaire built from the current task list and incentive schedule
  • A venue such as a monthly meeting where workers gather, to avoid chasing them individually

  What derails it

  Collecting data at a monthly meeting with the supervisor in the room turns the questions about difficulties and incentives into an exercise in diplomacy; arrange a separate space and state on the form that responses are not shared with supervisors.

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• Topic 22 / 44

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  Reasons for delayed or refused childhood immunisation among parents in an urban field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Distribution of stated reasons for delay or refusal among children not immunised for age

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 250 to 400 households with an under-two child, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • An immunisation card-based definition of up-to-date status for age
  • A pre-tested open and closed reason schedule in the local language
  • A field worker trusted in the settlement, since refusing parents avoid official visitors

  What derails it

  Families who refuse vaccination are the hardest to interview and the most likely to give a socially acceptable reason such as the child being unwell, so pre-test the probe sequence and train the interviewer to record the first reason and the reason after probing separately.

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• Topic 23 / 44

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  Out-of-pocket expenditure and catastrophic health spending following a hospitalisation among rural households

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of households whose hospitalisation expenditure exceeded a stated share of annual consumption expenditure

  Collection time

  9 to 12 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 450 households with a hospitalisation in the recall period, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A defined recall period and a household expenditure schedule adapted from a national survey
  • A sampling frame that can identify households with a recent hospitalisation
  • Patience for long interviews, since expenditure recall needs itemised prompting

  What derails it

  Expenditure recall decays fast and households forget the travel, attendant food and borrowed money that make spending catastrophic; use an itemised prompt list rather than a single total question, and keep the recall period short enough that the figures mean something.

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• Topic 24 / 44

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  Awareness and utilisation of a publicly funded health insurance scheme among eligible households in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of eligible households holding a valid card and the proportion that used it for a hospitalisation

  Collection time

  7 to 9 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 500 eligible households, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A way to establish eligibility, typically the ration card category or the scheme's own list
  • A pre-tested schedule covering card possession, awareness of entitlements and use
  • Verification by sighting the card where the household has one

  What derails it

  Eligibility is the trap: households believe they are covered when they are not, and a survey that accepts self-reported eligibility will describe a population different from the scheme's own list, so define eligibility from a document and sight it.

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• Topic 25 / 44

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  Pesticide handling practices and reported symptoms among agricultural workers in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion reporting symptoms after spraying, against an observed safe-practice score

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months, timed to the spraying season

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 250 to 400 workers, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Fieldwork timed to the local crop and spraying calendar
  • An observation checklist for protective equipment and storage, used at the household or field
  • Contact through a farmers group or the agriculture extension worker

  What derails it

  Symptom recall after spraying is only meaningful close to the season, and the spraying calendar is fixed by the crop, not by your timetable — miss the window and you wait a year, so align the ethics approval date with the sowing season rather than the academic one.

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• Topic 26 / 44

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  Respiratory symptoms and peak expiratory flow among stone quarry or construction workers in a district

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion with chronic respiratory symptoms on a standard respiratory questionnaire, with peak expiratory flow recorded

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 250 to 400 workers, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Employer or contractor permission to approach workers at the site
  • Peak flow meters with disposable mouthpieces and a written technique for three attempts
  • A standard respiratory symptom questionnaire translated and pre-tested

  What derails it

  This workforce is migrant and turns over within months, so a list made at the start will be badly out of date by the end; sample and measure in the same visit rather than planning any follow-up, and record duration of exposure carefully since most workers have worked several sites.

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• Topic 27 / 44

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  Self-reported hearing difficulty and use of protective measures among traffic police personnel in a city

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion reporting hearing difficulty on a structured schedule, with duration of duty exposure

  Collection time

  5 to 7 months of data collection

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 150 to 250 personnel, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Written permission from the police commissioner or the district superintendent
  • A schedule for data collection that fits shift timings and the roll call
  • An audiometry referral arrangement if any objective testing is included

  What derails it

  Departmental permission comes with an expectation that results will be shared, and personnel worry that a hearing problem recorded by a doctor affects their posting; state in the consent that individual findings go only to the participant, and get that wording cleared with the department.

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• Topic 28 / 44

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  Helmet use and road safety behaviour among two-wheeler riders observed at selected junctions in a city

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of observed riders and pillion riders wearing a helmet, by time of day and junction

  Collection time

  4 to 6 months of observation

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 1500 to 3000 observed riders, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A selection rule for junctions and fixed observation slots across the week
  • Two observers per slot with a counting sheet and an agreement check between them
  • Traffic police intimation, so that observers are not mistaken for enforcement staff

  What derails it

  Observed helmet use can change sharply with the presence of enforcement, so record whether a checkpoint was operating within sight on each observation day; without that you cannot tell whether your figure describes the enforcement calendar or everyday behaviour.

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• Topic 29 / 44

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  Profile of road traffic injuries presenting to a district hospital over two years: a record-based study

  DesignRetrospectiveFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Distribution of injured persons by road user category, time of day and recorded injury severity

  Collection time

  4 to 6 months of record retrieval

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 800 to 1500 records, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Casualty registers and medico-legal records retrievable for the whole period
  • An agreed coding scheme for road user category and injury site
  • Ethics committee waiver of consent for record review

  What derails it

  Casualty registers record the accompanying policeman's account, not a trauma assessment, and road user category is frequently blank for the seriously injured who went straight to theatre; decide how unknowns are reported before you start coding.

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• Topic 30 / 44

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  Experience of domestic violence and health care seeking among married women in an urban field practice area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityDemanding

  Primary outcome

  Proportion reporting any physical, sexual or emotional violence in the preceding year on a validated schedule

  Collection time

  10 to 12 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 250 to 400 women, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A validated, ethically cleared instrument with a safety protocol for interviews
  • Female interviewers trained in handling disclosure, and a private interview space
  • A named referral route to counselling, a one-stop centre or legal aid, given to every participant

  What derails it

  The ethics committee will rightly insist on the World Health Organization safety conditions — a female interviewer, strict privacy, a neutral study title on any document the family might see, and a referral card — and a protocol that does not contain all of them will be returned, so design those in from the first draft.

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• Topic 31 / 44

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  Unmet need for family planning and reasons for non-use of contraception among currently married women in a rural block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion with unmet need for spacing or limiting, by the standard national survey definition

  Collection time

  7 to 9 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 500 women of reproductive age, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • The standard definition and question sequence adapted from a national family health survey module
  • A female interviewer and privacy for the interview
  • A household frame listing currently married women of reproductive age

  What derails it

  Unmet need is a derived variable and the derivation needs the full question sequence on fertility intention, current use and pregnancy status; abbreviating that sequence to save field time produces a number that cannot be compared with any national estimate.

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• Topic 32 / 44

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  Morbidity detected on school health screening among primary school children in a block, and referral completion

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of children with a condition detected on screening, and the proportion of referrals completed

  Collection time

  9 to 12 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 500 to 800 children, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Education department and school permission, plus parental consent
  • A screening protocol covering vision, dental, skin and anthropometry with trained examiners
  • A referral facility that will accept and record children sent from the study

  What derails it

  Referral completion is the part that fails: parents take a child to hospital only if someone follows up by phone or visit, so decide whether your thesis measures referral completion as it naturally happens or with a reminder, and state which, because the two numbers are very different.

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• Topic 33 / 44

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  Screen time and sleep quality among upper primary and secondary school children in an urban area

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Reported daily screen time against a validated sleep quality score

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 600 children, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • School permission and parental consent with child assent
  • A validated sleep instrument appropriate to the age group, in the local language
  • A screen time schedule that separates study, entertainment and phone use

  What derails it

  Children under-report screen time when a teacher collects the forms and over-report study-related use, and weekday and weekend patterns differ sharply, so ask for both separately and collect forms in a sealed box rather than through the class teacher.

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• Topic 34 / 44

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  Weight gain in pregnancy and birth weight among women registered at a rural health centre: a prospective follow-up

  DesignCohortFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Birth weight in grams, against total gestational weight gain recorded across antenatal visits

  Collection time

  15 to 18 months including follow-up to delivery

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 200 to 300 women enrolled in the second trimester, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A health centre antenatal clinic that the investigator attends regularly
  • A calibrated adult weighing scale used at every visit and a reliable birth weight source
  • A tracing arrangement for women who deliver elsewhere, which many will

  What derails it

  A large share of rural women deliver at their mother's home in another district, so the birth weight you need is recorded by a facility you cannot reach; collect two phone numbers and the likely place of delivery at enrolment, and build that attrition into the sample size.

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• Topic 35 / 44

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  Maternal and social factors associated with low birth weight: a case-control study at a secondary care facility

  DesignCase-controlFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Odds of candidate maternal, nutritional and social exposures in low birth weight babies compared with controls

  Collection time

  9 to 12 months of enrolment

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 100 to 150 cases with an equal or greater number of controls, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A labour room where birth weight is measured on a calibrated scale within an hour of birth
  • Antenatal cards available at delivery for exposure data
  • A written control selection rule, with controls drawn from the same labour room

  What derails it

  Gestational age decides whether a baby is small because it is preterm or because it is growth-restricted, and in this setting gestational age rests on a remembered last menstrual period; insist on an early scan or a documented date as an inclusion criterion, or your cases are two different conditions.

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• Topic 36 / 44

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  Review of maternal deaths reported in a district over three years using programme review records

  DesignRetrospectiveFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Distribution of deaths by recorded cause and by the delay category identified in the facility review

  Collection time

  6 to 9 months of record work

  Sample, as a planning figure

  every maternal death reported in the district over the stated period, a complete enumeration rather than a calculated sample

  What your unit must already have

  • District health society permission to access maternal death review records
  • A standard framework for classifying delays, applied uniformly
  • An undertaking that no facility or individual is identifiable in the thesis

  What derails it

  Maternal death review records are written knowing they will be read administratively, so avoidable factors are recorded cautiously and the cause column is often a terminal event rather than the underlying cause; state plainly that you are describing what the review recorded, not reclassifying the death.

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• Topic 37 / 44

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  Completeness and consistency of community-based assessment checklist entries at health and wellness centres in a block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of checklists complete on every required field, with the proportion consistent on household re-verification

  Collection time

  8 to 10 months of data collection

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 600 filled checklists with a sub-sample re-verified, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Programme permission and access to filled checklists at the selected centres
  • A re-verification visit plan to a sub-sample of the households concerned
  • An agreed definition of completeness and of an acceptable discrepancy

  What derails it

  Workers fill these forms under a coverage target, and a study that names a centre with poor completeness can cost someone their incentive; agree an anonymised reporting format with the district unit in writing, or co-operation evaporates halfway through fieldwork.

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• Topic 38 / 44

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  Effect of a hand hygiene promotion programme on absenteeism and reported illness among primary school children

  DesignComparative interventionalFeasibilityDemanding

  Primary outcome

  Days of school absence per child over the observation period, alongside reported diarrhoeal and respiratory episodes

  Collection time

  12 to 15 months including the observation period

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 200 to 350 children across at least four schools, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • At least two intervention and two comparison schools, selected and agreed in advance
  • Functioning water points and soap supply, without which the intervention is notional
  • Attendance registers that are actually maintained daily

  What derails it

  The intervention presumes running water at the school handwashing point, and in many government schools that supply is intermittent; verify the water point works on unannounced visits before you select the school, because a programme with no water measures nothing.

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• Topic 39 / 44

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  A cluster randomised evaluation of village-level health education on self-reported treatment adherence among adults with hypertension

  DesignRandomised controlledFeasibilityDemanding

  Primary outcome

  Proportion reporting regular medication use at the end of the intervention period, by village allocation

  Collection time

  15 to 18 months including baseline, intervention and endline

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 8 to 12 villages with 25 to 40 adults each, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A set of comparable villages and a documented randomisation at the village level
  • A trained team to deliver the same sessions in every allocated village
  • Baseline and endline surveys in both arms, with the same instrument

  What derails it

  Randomising villages means your effective sample is the number of villages, not the number of people, and a thesis that randomises four villages cannot support the analysis it wants to do; settle the number of clusters and the intracluster correlation with a statistician before the synopsis, not after.

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• Topic 40 / 44

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  Coverage and compliance with mass drug administration for lymphatic filariasis in an endemic block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityModerate

  Primary outcome

  Coverage and compliance proportions by the programme definition, with reasons for non-consumption

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months, anchored to the campaign date

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 300 to 500 residents across selected clusters, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Fieldwork within a short window after the campaign round, while recall is intact
  • District vector-borne disease programme co-operation and campaign microplans
  • A cluster sampling plan covering both served and hard-to-reach habitations

  What derails it

  Coverage is what was distributed and compliance is what was swallowed, and households routinely report the first when asked the second; ask the two questions separately and accept that your survey must happen within weeks of the round, which fixes your entire timetable around a date you do not control.

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• Topic 41 / 44

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  Compliance with weekly iron and folic acid supplementation among school adolescents and the reasons for missed doses

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion consuming the stated number of weekly doses in the recall period, with reasons for missed doses

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 500 adolescents, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • School permission and the school supplementation register for cross-checking
  • A short recall-based schedule with a visual aid showing the tablet
  • Consent and assent arrangements as for any school-based study

  What derails it

  The school register records tablets distributed on the designated day, which is not the same as tablets consumed, and children cannot distinguish one weekly tablet from another months later; keep the recall to a few weeks and show the actual tablet during the interview.

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• Topic 42 / 44

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  Biomedical waste segregation practices and staff knowledge at primary and community health centres in a block

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of observed waste containers correctly segregated, with a staff knowledge score

  Collection time

  5 to 7 months of data collection

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 15 to 25 facilities with all available staff, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • District health office permission to visit and observe at each facility
  • An observation checklist built from the current biomedical waste rules
  • A visit schedule covering working hours at each facility, not just the morning round

  What derails it

  Segregation improves visibly the moment a doctor with a clipboard walks in, and facilities tidy up when a visit is announced; plan unannounced observation within the permission you have obtained, and record whether the visit was announced for each facility.

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• Topic 43 / 44

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  Health care seeking behaviour for an episode of fever among rural households and the first provider contacted

  DesignCross-sectionalFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Distribution of first provider contacted for the most recent fever episode in the recall period

  Collection time

  6 to 8 months of fieldwork

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 350 to 500 households, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • A household sampling frame and a defined recall period for the fever episode
  • A pre-tested schedule listing local provider types, including informal practitioners
  • A field worker who can name local providers as the household names them

  What derails it

  Households describe the chemist and the informal practitioner as a doctor, and the standard provider categories do not fit what the respondent actually did; build the provider list during pre-testing from local names and map it to categories afterwards rather than forcing answers into a pre-printed list.

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• Topic 44 / 44

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  Status of catch-up vaccination among children who missed scheduled doses, as recorded in a block immunisation register

  DesignRetrospectiveFeasibilityStraightforward

  Primary outcome

  Proportion of children with a recorded missed dose who subsequently received it, and the interval to catch-up

  Collection time

  5 to 7 months of record work

  Sample, as a planning figure

  roughly 400 to 700 child records, subject to a proper calculation

  What your unit must already have

  • Access to the block immunisation register or the programme's digital records
  • A defined rule for what counts as a missed dose by age
  • A sub-sample household verification, if your protocol includes one

  What derails it

  Children who migrate out are recorded as having missed a dose forever and they are a substantial share of an urban register, so the uncorrected figure describes register hygiene rather than vaccination; verify a sub-sample at the household before reporting any catch-up proportion.

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