RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a peer-referral and clinic welcome programme for reducing barriers to adolescents' uptake of family planning services in Uganda. METHODS: We developed an intervention using behavioural design and carried out a stratified, randomized controlled evaluation of the intervention in girls aged 15-19 years. Sexual and reproductive health clinics were randomized into control (56 clinics) and intervention groups (60 clinics). All intervention clinics received the core intervention (materials to create an adolescent-friendly environment and referral cards to give to friends), while a subset of clinics additionally received training in youth-friendly service provision. We collected clinics' routine data on monthly numbers of visits by adults and adolescents over a 15-month baseline and 6-month intervention period, 2018-2020. FINDINGS: In multivariate regression analysis we found significant effects of the intervention on primary outcomes in the pooled intervention group compared with control. Mean monthly visits by adolescents increased by 45% (incidence rate ratio, IRR: 1.45; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.14-1.85), or over five additional adolescent clients per clinic per month. The mean adolescent proportion of total clients improved by 5.3 percentage points (95% CI: 0.02-0.09). Within treatment arms, clinics receiving the training in youth-friendly service provision showed the strongest effects: a 62% increase (IRR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.21-2.17) in adolescent clients, or over seven additional adolescents per clinic per month, relative to the control group. CONCLUSION: A behavioural change intervention designed to target identified barriers can increase adolescents' uptake of family planning counselling and services.