Using Cultural Ceremonies to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Transmission

January 14, 2019 updated by: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Violence against women (VAW), the most extreme manifestation of the unequal power balance between women and men, is a major global public health concern. One of the most common forms of VAW is that perpetrated by a husband or other intimate partner. In Ethiopia, 70.9% of women reported having experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime, demonstrating the pervasiveness of the problem. A growing body of evidence has also linked IPV and HIV risk.

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of a community-based intervention focused on Intimate Partner Violence and HIV delivered in the context of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a culturally established forum for community discussion and conflict resolution. Villages will be randomly assigned to one of 4 study arms (3 intervention and one control arm): 1) Women only participate in the intervention, 2) Men only participate, 3) Both men and women (couples) participate, 4) Women and men receive the control intervention comprising a short informational session on violence reduction.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

6800

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Ethiopia
      • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
        • Ethiopian Public Health Association

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 49 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • currently married or cohabitating with partner
  • residing in selected village for at least 6 months

Exclusion Criteria:

  • eligible women who do not consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Women Only
Groups of women will receive the behavioral intervention to reduce IPV and HIV. Sessions will be led by female facilitators.
Behavioral: Intervention to reduce IPV and HIV
The Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony will be used as an entry point for a community based intervention to provide information, change behaviour around IPV and improve gender equity and intra-couple relations. The coffee ceremony is a culturally established forum for community discussion and conflict resolution and an integral part of Ethiopian life. The intervention will involve regular coffee ceremonies, during which approximately 20 members of the community will participate in education and discussions centred on gender issues, sexuality, communication and conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS and its link with violence, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention. Each coffee ceremony will be moderated by a female or male facilitator trained in participatory learning, moderation, HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling, and gender issues. The intervention will involve 14 two-hour session per group of participants.
Experimental: Men Only
Groups of men will receive the behavioral intervention to reduce IPV and HIV. Sessions will be led by male facilitators.
Behavioral: Intervention to reduce IPV and HIV
The Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony will be used as an entry point for a community based intervention to provide information, change behaviour around IPV and improve gender equity and intra-couple relations. The coffee ceremony is a culturally established forum for community discussion and conflict resolution and an integral part of Ethiopian life. The intervention will involve regular coffee ceremonies, during which approximately 20 members of the community will participate in education and discussions centred on gender issues, sexuality, communication and conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS and its link with violence, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention. Each coffee ceremony will be moderated by a female or male facilitator trained in participatory learning, moderation, HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling, and gender issues. The intervention will involve 14 two-hour session per group of participants.
Experimental: Couples
Couples will receive the behavioural intervention to reduce IPV and HIV. Sessions will be led by a male and a female facilitator.
Behavioral: Intervention to reduce IPV and HIV
The Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony will be used as an entry point for a community based intervention to provide information, change behaviour around IPV and improve gender equity and intra-couple relations. The coffee ceremony is a culturally established forum for community discussion and conflict resolution and an integral part of Ethiopian life. The intervention will involve regular coffee ceremonies, during which approximately 20 members of the community will participate in education and discussions centred on gender issues, sexuality, communication and conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS and its link with violence, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention. Each coffee ceremony will be moderated by a female or male facilitator trained in participatory learning, moderation, HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling, and gender issues. The intervention will involve 14 two-hour session per group of participants.
No Intervention: Control Group
Community members in the control villages will receive a short informational session on violence reduction.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Experience of physical violence by an intimate partner in the previous 12 months (among married or co-habitating women)
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months
Experience of sexual violence by an intimate partner in the previous 12 months (among married or co-habitating women)
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Perpetration of physical violence towards an intimate partner in previous 12 months (among married or co-habitating men)
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months
Perpetration of sexual violence towards an intimate partner in previous 12 months (among married or co-habitating men)
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months
Proportion with comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge (among married or co-habitating men or women)
Time Frame: 18 months
18 months
Proportion using a condom at last high risk sexual intercourse (among married or co-habitating men or women)
Time Frame: 18 months
18 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Collaborators

EngenderHealth
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopian Public Health Association

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Vandana Sharma, MD, MPH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Principal Investigator: Jessica Leight, PhD, Williams College
  • Principal Investigator: Negussie Deyessa, PhD, Addis Ababa University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 2, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 5, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

December 8, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 15, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 14, 2019

Last Verified

January 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ALJameelPAL

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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