Clinical trial NCT02592252: Impact of Microfinance and Participatory Gender Training for Women in Reducing Intimate Partner Violence
Official title: Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial to Assess the Impact of Combined Microfinance and Gender Training for Women and Gender Training for Women and Their Male Partners in Reducing Intimate Partner Violence
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Maltreatment by Spouse or Partner
Lead sponsor: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit
name: National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania
name: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
name: EngenderHealth
First posted: 2015-10-30
Enrollment: 2640
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 20
Maximum age (years): 50
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Violence against women and girls is increasingly recognized as a major global public health and development concern. However, evidence on what forms of intervention should be prioritised is severely lacking. A cluster randomized controlled trial (The Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS \& Gender Equity - IMAGE Project) in rural South Africa combined a group-based microfinance intervention with a participatory gender and HIV training curriculum for loan participants and showed that, over a two-year period, levels of physical and/or sexual partner violence experienced by participants in the past year were reduced by 55%.

The overall goal of the current study is to design and implement a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact on intimate partner violence of: 1) combining participatory gender training with microfinance for women in existing microfinance loan groups, and 2) a participatory gender training programme for women (not receiving microfinance) and their male partners.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Arms 1 and 2 - microfinance loan groups:

1. there are between 15 and 30 active members in the group
2. less than 25% of the women have been members for less than one year
3. there is a good attendance (repayment) record
4. a minimum of 70% of active members consent to take part in the study

Arms 3 and 4, women who:

1. are aged 20-50 years
2. are not formally employed, i.e. either self-employed or not currently working
3. have been resident in Mwanza for at least two years
4. have not been a member of a microfinance loan group in the past 12 months
5. are fluent in Swahili
6. have consented to take part in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Past 12 months exposure to intimate partner violence
timeFrame: 24 months post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Mwanza
country: Tanzania
facility: Mawanza Intervention Trials Unit
Study officials:
References:
citation: Abramsky T, Harvey S, Mosha N, Mtolela G, Gibbs A, Mshana G, Lees S, Kapiga S, Stockl H. Longitudinal inconsistencies in women's self-reports of lifetime experience of physical and sexual IPV: evidence from the MAISHA trial and follow-on study in North-western Tanzania. BMC Womens Health. 2022 Apr 15;22(1):120. doi: 10.1186/s12905-022-01697-y.
citation: Harvey S, Abramsky T, Mshana G, Hansen CH, Mtolela GJ, Madaha F, Hashim R, Kapinga I, Watts C, Lees S, Kapiga S. A cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a gender transformative intervention on intimate partner violence against women in newly formed neighbourhood groups in Tanzania. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Jul;6(7):e004555. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004555.
citation: Kapiga S, Harvey S, Mshana G, Hansen CH, Mtolela GJ, Madaha F, Hashim R, Kapinga I, Mosha N, Abramsky T, Lees S, Watts C. A social empowerment intervention to prevent intimate partner violence against women in a microfinance scheme in Tanzania: findings from the MAISHA cluster randomised controlled trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2019 Oct;7(10):e1423-e1434. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30316-X.
citation: Abramsky T, Lees S, Stockl H, Harvey S, Kapinga I, Ranganathan M, Mshana G, Kapiga S. Women's income and risk of intimate partner violence: secondary findings from the MAISHA cluster randomised trial in North-Western Tanzania. BMC Public Health. 2019 Aug 14;19(1):1108. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7454-1.
citation: Harvey S, Lees S, Mshana G, Pilger D, Hansen C, Kapiga S, Watts C. A cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact on intimate partner violence of a 10-session participatory gender training curriculum delivered to women taking part in a group-based microfinance loan scheme in Tanzania (MAISHA CRT01): study protocol. BMC Womens Health. 2018 Apr 2;18(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s12905-018-0546-8.
citation: Kapiga S, Harvey S, Muhammad AK, Stockl H, Mshana G, Hashim R, Hansen C, Lees S, Watts C. Prevalence of intimate partner violence and abuse and associated factors among women enrolled into a cluster randomised trial in northwestern Tanzania. BMC Public Health. 2017 Feb 14;17(1):190. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4119-9.