StartNewRelationship#

The StartNewRelationship intervention class provides a method of triggering the formation of a relationship following a user-specified event. The parameters of the relationship that is formed can also be customized by the user, such as individual properties required of the partner, or modified condom usage probability within the relationship. Note: These new relationships can be made by people of any age (the intervention disregards IsPostDebut and Sexual_Debut_Age_Min). Additionally, these relationships are considered outside of the Pair Formation Algorithm (PFA), and do not impact/are not impacted by concurrency or pair formation parameters. Coital act and condom usage rate are as per the corresponding relationship type, unless modified by the user.

Note

Parameters are case-sensitive. For Boolean parameters, set to 1 for true or 0 for false. Minimum, maximum, or default values of “NA” indicate that those values are not applicable for that parameter.

EMOD does not use true defaults; that is, if the dependency relationships indicate that a parameter is required, you must supply a value for it. However, many of the tools used to work with EMOD will use the default values provided below.

JSON format does not permit comments, but you can add “dummy” parameters to add contextual information to your files. Any keys that are not EMOD parameter names will be ignored by the model.

The table below describes all possible parameters with which this class can be configured. The JSON example that follows shows one potential configuration.

Parameter

Data type

Minimum

Maximum

Default

Description

Example

Condom_Usage_Parameters_Type

enum

NA

NA

USE_DEFAULT

Indicates if the relationship should use the Condom_Usage_Probablility for the relationship type as defined in the Demographics file (‘USE_DEFAULT’) or specify usage sigmoid parameters for this specific relationship (‘SPECIFY_USAGE’).

{
  "Condom_Usage_Parameters_Type": "SPECIFY_USAGE",
  "Condom_Usage_Sigmoid": {
    "Max": 1,
    "Mid": 2000,
    "Min": 1,
    "Rate": 1
  }
}

Condom_Usage_Sigmoid

json object

NA

NA

NA

The new sigmoid to use when determining the probability that a condom is used during a coital act within the specified relationship. This overrides the Condom_Usage_Probablility for the relationship type as defined in the Demographics file.

{
  "Condom_Usage_Parameters_Type": "SPECIFY_USAGE",
  "Condom_Usage_Sigmoid": {
    "Max": 1,
    "Mid": 2000,
    "Min": 1,
    "Rate": 1
  }
}

Disqualifying_Properties

array of strings

NA

NA

“”

A list of IndividualProperty key:value pairs that will prevent an intervention from being distributed or applied/updated. See NodeProperties and IndividualProperties parameters for more information. Generally used to control the flow of health care access. For example, to prevent the same individual from accessing health care via two different routes at the same time.

{
  "Disqualifying_Properties": [
    "InterventionStatus:LostForever"
  ]
}

Dont_Allow_Duplicates

boolean

0

1

0

If an individual’s container has an intervention, set to true (1) to prevent them from receiving another copy of the intervention. Supported by all intervention classes.

{
  "Dont_Allow_Duplicates": 0
}

Intervention_Name

string

NA

NA

StartNewRelationship

The optional name used to refer to this intervention as a means to differentiate it from others that use the same class.

{
  "Intervention_Config": {
    "Intervention_Name": "Start relationship from wife inheritance",
    "class": "StartNewRelationship"
  }
}

New_Property_Value

string

NA

NA

“”

An optional IndividualProperty key:value pair that will be assigned when the intervention is distributed. See NodeProperties and IndividualProperties parameters for more information. Generally used to indicate the broad category of health care cascade to which an intervention belongs to prevent individuals from accessing care through multiple pathways. For example, if an individual must already be taking a particular medication to be prescribed a new one.

{
  "New_Property_Value": "InterventionStatus:None"
}

Partner_Has_IP

string

NA

NA

“”

The IndividualProperty key:value pair that the potential partner must have. Empty string implies no filtering. See NodeProperties and IndividualProperties parameters for more information.

{
  "Partner_Has_IP": "IsPurifier:YES"
}

Relationship_Created_Event

string

NA

NA

“”

The event trigger to broadcast when a new relationship is created due to the intervention. See Event list for possible values. Custom events can be distributed if they are defined in the config parameter Custom_Individual_Events.

{
  "Relationship_Created_Event": "Started_Purification"
}

Relationship_Type

enum

NA

NA

TRANSITORY

The type of the relationship to start for this person. Possible values are:

  • TRANSITORY

  • INFORMAL

  • MARITAL

  • COMMERCIAL

{
  "Relationship_Type": "COMMERCIAL"
}
{
    "Use_Defaults": 1,
    "Events": [
        {
            "class": "CampaignEvent",
            "Start_Day": 730,
            "Nodeset_Config": { "class": "NodeSetAll" },
            "Event_Coordinator_Config": {
                "class": "StandardInterventionDistributionEventCoordinator",
                "Target_Demographic": "ExplicitGender", 
                "Target_Gender" : "MALE",
                "Demographic_Coverage": 0.05,
                "Intervention_Config": {
                    "class": "StartNewRelationship",
                    "Condom_Usage_Parameters_Type": "SPECIFY_USAGE",
                    "Condom_Usage_Sigmoid": {
                        "Max": 1,
                        "Mid": 2000,
                        "Min": 1,
                        "Rate": 1
                        },
                    "Disqualifying_Properties": ["InterventionStatus:LostForever"],
                    "Dont_Allow_Duplicates": 0,
                    "Intervention_Name": "My Custom Relationship",
                    "New_Property_Value": "",
                    "Partner_Has_IP" : "IsPurifier:YES",
                    "Relationship_Created_Event": "Started_Purification",
                    "Relationship_Type": "COMMERCIAL"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}