Clinical trial NCT04948580: Preventing Violence by Teachers Against Children in Sub-Saharan Africa
Official title: Reducing Violence by Teachers Against Children: A Multi-Site Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of Interaction Competencies With Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) in Primary and Secondary Schools in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Violence by Teachers
Keywords: school violence
teacher violence
intervention
teachers
students
primary schools
secondary schools
Lead sponsor: Bielefeld University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Daressalaam University College of Education (DUCE)
name: Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)
name: Presbyterian University College Ghana (PUCG)
First posted: 2021-07-02
Enrollment: 2880
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 7
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Violence has severe and long-lasting negative consequences for children's and adolescents' well-being and psychosocial functioning, thereby also hampering communities' and societies' economic growth. Studies show high prevalence of violence by teachers against children in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in countries where violence is lawful as disciplinary measure at school and in countries where it has been officially banned. In addition to legal and structural factors (e. g. stressful working conditions for teachers), attitudes favoring violence against children as an effective and acceptable discipline method and the lack of access to alternative non-violent strategies are likely to contribute to teachers' ongoing use of violence against children.

Notwithstanding, there are currently very few school-level interventions to reduce violence by teachers that a) have been scientifically evaluated and b) that focus both on changing attitudes towards violence and on equipping teachers with non-violent discipline strategies.

Thus, the present study tests the effectiveness of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. Previous studies have provided initial evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce teacher violence in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania and secondary schools in Uganda. This study aims to provide further evidence for the effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce violence and to improve children's functioning (i.e. mental health, well-being, academic performance) across educational settings, societies and cultures.

Detailed description: The study is a multi-site cluster randomized controlled trial with schools (clusters) as level of randomization. Multi-stage random sampling will be applied to select three zones per country (Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana) and one district in each zone. In each district, eight public schools will be randomly selected, resulting in a total number of 72 schools (24 per country). Schools will be stratified based on school type (primary or secondary school) and location (rural or urban), leading to 36 sites or cluster pairs (3 countries x 3 zones x 2 school types x 2 locations). In each site, one school will be randomly allocated to the intervention group (that will receive the ICC-T intervention) and one school to the control group (that will receive no intervention).

At each school, 40 students (stratified by gender) in the third year of primary school or in the first year of secondary/junior high school and all teachers (expected average number: 20) will be recruited. Thus the final sample will comprise 2880 students and at least 1440 teachers.

The study will have three data assessment points: baseline assessment prior to the intervention, the first follow-up assessment six months after the intervention and the second follow-up assessment 18 months after the intervention. In addition, feasibility data will be assessed in the intervention group at the beginning and the end of the intervention.

Primary outcome measures are student- and teacher-reported physical and emotional violence by teachers in the past week. Secondary outcome measures include teachers' attitudes towards violence against students, children's emotional and behavioral problems, quality of life, and cognitive functioning.

Eligibility criteria: General:

Inclusion Criteria:

* All: Written informed consent (if underaged by parents (written) \& minors themselves (oral or written)
* Students: Enrollment in class 3 of primary school or in class 1 of secondary school
* Teachers: All teachers employed at the school

Schools:

* Public schools
* Mixed-gender schools
* Day schools
* At least 40 students in selected class/stream

Exclusion criteria:

* Acute drug or alcohol intoxication
* Acute psychotic disorder

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change of students' exposure to emotional and physical violence by teachers
timeFrame: The CTS will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).
measure: Change of teachers' use of emotional and physical violence
timeFrame: The CTS will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change of teachers' positive attitudes towards emotional and physical violence
timeFrame: The adapted version of CTS will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after the intervention).)
measure: Change of student's mental health
timeFrame: The PSC-Y will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention)
measure: Change of students' quality of life
timeFrame: The KIDSCREEN-10 will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention) ]
measure: Change of students' cognitive functioning
timeFrame: The Psych Lab 101 application will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention)
Other outcomes:
measure: Change of students' academic performance
timeFrame: The standardized achievement tests will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).
measure: Change of students' social competence
timeFrame: The Social Cognitive Map Technique - peer nomination will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).
measure: Change of peer victimization
timeFrame: The MPVS-24 will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).
Locations:
city: Abetifi
country: Ghana
facility: Presbyterian University College Ghana
city: Daressalam
country: Tanzania
facility: Daressalaam University College of Education
city: Mbarara
country: Uganda
facility: Mbarara University of Science and Technology
Study officials:
affiliation: Bielefeld University
name: Tobias Hecker, Prof. Dr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Scharpf F, Kirika A, Masath FB, Mkinga G, Ssenyonga J, Nyarko-Tetteh E, Nkuba M, Karikari AK, Hecker T. Reducing physical and emotional violence by teachers using the intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T): study protocol of a multi-country cluster randomized controlled trial in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. BMC Public Health. 2021 Oct 24;21(1):1930. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11950-y.