Human Recognition among HIV-Infected Adults: Empirical Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Kenya

This paper uses data from a randomized controlled trial to study the impacts of food supplementation and medical treatment on the receipt of human recognition by malnourished, HIV-infected adults in Kenya. Questions specially designed to measure human recognition were included in the trial, demonstrating how data on human recognition can be collected and analyzed as part of research or programs. The data are used to examine the impacts of interventions on human recognition, the determinants of human recognition receipt, and the role that human recognition plays in nutritional status and subjective well-being. Food supplementation has a significant, independent, positive impact on recognition received at completion of 6 months of food supplementation, but this effect does not persist 6 months after completion of the supplementation. The location of the study sites appears to play a significant role in the changes in human recognition, with smaller improvements among subjects at clinics in urban slums of Nairobi than among subjects in district and provincial hospitals outside of Nairobi, controlling for demographic, socio-economic, and health characteristics. Women receive lower levels of human recognition than men and also have worse mental health; further study is needed to better understand the relationship among gender, mental health, and human recognition. There is some evidence of an association between nutritional status and human recognition, but findings about the role human recognition plays in nutritional status and subjective well-being are mixed and further study is needed in this area, possibly over a longer timeframe than 12 months.