Prevention of Violence Against Children

September 30, 2019 updated by: Prof. Dr. Thomas Elbert, University of Konstanz

Prevalence, Consequences and Prevention of Violence Against Children in Southwestern Uganda

Beside the home, the school is often the second important setting for the development and education of children and adolescents. Students spend a large part of their life at school. However, there is recurrent occurrence of violence against children and of harsh discipline measures used in home and school settings. These may result into negative consequences. Hence, prevention strategies against the use of harsh discipline use in schools become a priority.

In the baseline of this study the investigators will therefore examine the prevalence and consequences of violence against children in Southwestern Uganda. The study will be conducted in schools and common disciplinary measures used by teachers, and the perceptions of teachers' and students' in relation to commonly used and experienced disciplinary measures we will be investigated.

In the second phase, the investigators then will implement and assess the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at reducing the use of harsh and violent disciplinary measures in schools. ICC-T training in the long-term aims at fostering better relations amongst students and teachers. Based on feasibility studies, ICC-T intervention is expected to result into better teacher-student relationships, change in teachers' attitudes and behaviors concerning the use of violent disciplinary measures in the school setting.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Study participants (i.e., teachers and students) will be recruited from six districts in southwestern Uganda. The sample will include 12 government-aided secondary schools from which 60 students and 15-25 teachers will be recruited. The final sample will have 720 students and 180-300 teachers. Investigators will assess data in the baseline (i.e., prior to intervention) and three months after the intervention.

Study measures will cover the following topics: socio-demographic data, common disciplinary measure used at home and at school, students' mental health problems, students' and teachers' attitudes towards violent discipline measures, and students' exposure to peer and sexual violence. Questionnaire for teachers will have additional items that measure attitudes towards teaching and teacher stress. Additionally, the investigators will also assess the demand, acceptance and feasibility of the training.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

720

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

  • Uganda
    • Southwestern Uganda
      • Mbarara, Southwestern Uganda, Uganda
        • Government-aided secondary schools

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

12 years to 65 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Written informed consent (if underaged by parents & minors)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Acute drug or alcohol intoxication
  • Acute psychotic disorder

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: FACTORIAL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: ICC-T
Intervention: Interaction Competencies with children - for teachers (ICC-T) 5.5 days with 8 hours of training for teachers. Core training components include teacher-student interaction, maltreatment prevention, effective discipline strategies, identifying and supporting burdened students and implementation of the training materials into the school setting
Behavioral: Interaction Competencies with children - for teachers
Core training components include teacher-student interaction, maltreatment prevention, effective discipline strategies, identifying and supporting burdened students and implementation of the training materials into the school setting.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control schools
The control school do not receive any intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in teachers' application of harsh discipline
Time Frame: The CTSPC will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)
In teachers the Conflict Tactics Scale Parent-Child version (CTSPC) will assess teachers' use of violent discipline measure against students in the school locale.
The CTSPC will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)
Change in student's exposure to harsh discipline by teachers
Time Frame: CTSPC will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)
The Conflict Tactics Scale Parent-Child version (CTSPC) will assess the students' self-reported experiences of violent discipline in schools.
CTSPC will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in student's mental health
Time Frame: SDQ will be used at (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)
Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) will assess students' internalizing and externalizing problems. SDQ will be used at T1 and T2.
SDQ will be used at (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)
Change in teachers's attitudes towards harsh discipline
Time Frame: The adapted version of CTSPC will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)
Items of the CTSPC have been adapted to measure teachers' and students' attitudes towards violent discipline methods at school.
The adapted version of CTSPC will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Konstanz

Collaborators

Bielefeld University
Alexander von Humboldt Association

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 (ACTUAL)

April 1, 2018

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

September 30, 2019

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

September 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 7, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 9, 2017

First Posted (ACTUAL)

February 14, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

October 1, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 30, 2019

Last Verified

September 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ICC-T-2017-Uganda

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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