Preventing violence against refugee adolescent girls: findings from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Ethiopia
| Autor: | Leora Ward, Asham Assazenew Baysa, Kathryn L. Falb, Gary Yu, Ilana Seff, Lindsay Stark, Amy Neiman, Teame Tesfay Gessesse, Khudejha Asghar |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Sexual violence
Health Policy Refugee Research Cluster randomized trial 05 social sciences public health Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Transactional sex Life skills 03 medical and health sciences Social support 0302 clinical medicine Intervention (counseling) Child marriage child health Prevention strategies 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 030212 general & internal medicine Cluster randomised controlled trial Psychology 050104 developmental & child psychology Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | BMJ Global Health |
| ISSN: | 2059-7908 |
| Popis: | IntroductionInterpersonal violence is a critical public health concern in humanitarian contexts, but evidence of effective violence prevention programmes targeting adolescent girls is lacking. We investigated the efficacy of a life skills and safe spaces programme to reduce adolescent girls’ experiences of interpersonal violence in a refugee setting.MethodsIn this two-arm, single-blinded, cluster randomised controlled trial, we recruited 919 Sudanese and South Sudanese girls ages 13–19 years residing in refugee camps in Ethiopia. Girls were divided into 31 clusters, with 457 and 462 participants assigned to the intervention and control arms, respectively. Intervention clusters received 30 life skills sessions delivered in safe spaces and 8 complementary sessions for caregivers. The primary outcome was exposure to sexual violence in the previous 12 months. Secondary outcomes included disaggregated forms of sexual violence, physical violence, emotional violence, transactional sex, child marriage, feelings of safety, attitudes around rites of passage and perceptions of social support. Intent-to-treat analysis was used.ResultsAt 12-month follow-up, the intervention was not significantly associated with reduction in exposure to sexual violence (adjusted OR =0.96, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.57), other forms of violence, transactional sex or feelings of safety. The intervention was associated with improvements in attitudes around rites of passage and identified social supports. Additionally, the intervention showed a decrease in reported child marriage among girls who were married at baseline.ConclusionWhile the intervention impacted key markers along the causal pathway to violence reduction, further research and programmatic adaptations are needed to prevent violence towards adolescents in humanitarian contexts.Trial registrationNCT02506543. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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