Clinical trial NCT01678846: Good Schools Study
Official title: The Good Schools Study: Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of a Program to Prevent Violence Against Children in Schools
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Physical Violence
Educational Achievement
Mental Health
Sexual Violence
Violence Against Children
Keywords: corporal punishment
violence
education
depression
anxiety
conduct disorder
Lead sponsor: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Raising Voices
name: Institute of Education, UK
name: Makerere University
First posted: 2012-09-05
Enrollment: 3820
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to determine whether use of the Good Schools Toolkit is effective in reducing violence against children in primary schools.

Detailed description: Violence against children has profound effects on both children's health and their ability to do well at school. Fear, anxiety and injuries caused by violence may play a large role in both children's absenteeism and low educational achievement, and there is increasing interest from large bilateral donors in investigating this link in low income countries. The Good School Toolkit has been developed and refined for 6 years in Uganda by Raising Voices. The toolkit takes a systemic approach, involving an entire school in a process of change to reduce violence and improve teaching techniques. The Toolkit draws on the Transtheoretical Model and incorporates standard behaviour change techniques such as setting a goal and making an action plan, which are effective in modifying behaviour. This study aims to determine whether use of the Good School Toolkit reduces children's experience of violence by school staff. The investigators will also examine the effects of the Toolkit on children's educational outcomes, mental health and well-being.

The investigators will conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial in 40 primary schools in Luwero District, Uganda. More than 3500 children in Primary 5, 6 and 7 will be surveyed (aged about 11-16 years). Half of the schools will receive the Toolkit, and other half will be put on a waiting list to receive the Toolkit at the end of the study. The results from this evaluation will be used to brief policy-makers within the Ministry of Education and Sports involved in developing country-wide policy and practice around violence against children in schools.

Eligibility criteria: 1. Inclusion Criteria:

   * Schools

     * in Luwero District, Uganda
     * more than 40 students registered in Primary 5
   * Participants

     * registered as a Primary 5, 6 or 7 pupil
     * any school staff member
2. Exclusion Criteria:

   * Schools

     -- existing program related to prevention of violence against children or school governance
   * Participants -- not able to understand consent and study procedures

Primary outcomes:
measure: Physical Violence From School Staff
timeFrame: 2-year follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Child Mental Health
timeFrame: 2-year follow-up
measure: Educational Achievement: Word Recognition in English
timeFrame: 2-year follow-up
measure: Safety and Well-being at School
timeFrame: At 2 year follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Multiple
country: Uganda
facility: District-wide
state: Luwero District
Study officials:
affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
name: Karen M Devries, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Carlson C, Namy S, Norcini Pala A, Wainberg ML, Michau L, Nakuti J, Knight L, Allen E, Ikenberg C, Naker D, Devries K. Violence against children and intimate partner violence against women: overlap and common contributing factors among caregiver-adolescent dyads. BMC Public Health. 2020 Jan 29;20(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-8115-0.
citation: Devries K, Parkes J, Knight L, Allen E, Namy S, Datzberger S, Nalukenge W, Atuhaire L, Kyegombe N, Walakira E, Seeley J, Weiss HA, Naker D. Context of Violence in Adolescence Cohort (CoVAC) study: protocol for a mixed methods longitudinal study in Uganda. BMC Public Health. 2020 Jan 13;20(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7654-8.
citation: Knight L, Allen E, Mirembe A, Nakuti J, Namy S, Child JC, Sturgess J, Kyegombe N, Walakira EJ, Elbourne D, Naker D, Devries KM. Implementation of the Good School Toolkit in Uganda: a quantitative process evaluation of a successful violence prevention program. BMC Public Health. 2018 May 9;18(1):608. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5462-1.
citation: Devries K, Kuper H, Knight L, Allen E, Kyegombe N, Banks LM, Kelly S, Naker D. Reducing Physical Violence Toward Primary School Students With Disabilities. J Adolesc Health. 2018 Mar;62(3):303-310. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.09.004. Epub 2017 Dec 6.
citation: Kayiwa J, Clarke K, Knight L, Allen E, Walakira E, Namy S, Merrill KG, Naker D, Devries K. Effect of the good school toolkit on school staff mental health, sense of job satisfaction and perceptions of school climate: Secondary analysis of a cluster randomised trial. Prev Med. 2017 Aug;101:84-90. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.05.022. Epub 2017 Jun 2.
citation: Grundlingh H, Knight L, Naker D, Devries K. Secondary distress in violence researchers: a randomised trial of the effectiveness of group debriefings. BMC Psychiatry. 2017 Jun 2;17(1):204. doi: 10.1186/s12888-017-1327-x.
citation: Devries KM, Knight L, Child JC, Kyegombe N, Hossain M, Lees S, Watts C, Naker D. Witnessing intimate partner violence and child maltreatment in Ugandan children: a cross-sectional survey. BMJ Open. 2017 Feb 28;7(2):e013583. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013583.
citation: Thumann BF, Nur U, Naker D, Devries KM. Primary school students' mental health in Uganda and its association with school violence, connectedness, and school characteristics: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2016 Jul 29;16:662. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3351-z.
citation: Clarke K, Patalay P, Allen E, Knight L, Naker D, Devries K. Patterns and predictors of violence against children in Uganda: a latent class analysis. BMJ Open. 2016 May 24;6(5):e010443. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010443.
citation: Devries KM, Child JC, Elbourne D, Naker D, Heise L. "I never expected that it would happen, coming to ask me such questions":Ethical aspects of asking children about violence in resource poor settings. Trials. 2015 Nov 11;16:516. doi: 10.1186/s13063-015-1004-7.
citation: Devries KM, Knight L, Child JC, Mirembe A, Nakuti J, Jones R, Sturgess J, Allen E, Kyegombe N, Parkes J, Walakira E, Elbourne D, Watts C, Naker D. The Good School Toolkit for reducing physical violence from school staff to primary school students: a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Uganda. Lancet Glob Health. 2015 Jul;3(7):e378-86. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00060-1.
citation: Child JC, Naker D, Horton J, Walakira EJ, Devries KM. Responding to abuse: Children's experiences of child protection in a central district, Uganda. Child Abuse Negl. 2014 Oct;38(10):1647-58. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.06.009. Epub 2014 Jul 14.
citation: Devries KM, Allen E, Child JC, Walakira E, Parkes J, Elbourne D, Watts C, Naker D. The Good Schools Toolkit to prevent violence against children in Ugandan primary schools: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2013 Jul 24;14:232. doi: 10.1186/1745-6215-14-232.