Clinical trial NCT06947018: Impact Evaluation of Türkiye's Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment Programme for Elimination of Child Marriage
Official title: Impact Evaluation of Türkiye's Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment Programme for Elimination of Child Marriage
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Marriage Age
Marriage
Keywords: Child marriage
Adolescent empowerment
Refugees
Life skills
Lead sponsor: UNICEF
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-04-27
Enrollment: 820
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 17
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: The trial is an individually randomized intervention study where the intervention versus a control group is allocated on a 1:1 basis to households (adolescent girls, boys and their caregivers), stratified by study site (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Gaziantep, and Hatay) and nationality (Syrian refugees versus Turkish nationals). The intervention group receives the Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment for Elimination of Child Marriage intervention, whereas the control group is a delayed treatment group who will be offered the intervention upon completion of the trial and follow-up data collection (if funding allows).
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Low income, refugee, displaced and disaster affected populations face a variety of protection risks, including higher risk of child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU). This is the case in Türkiye, where low income, refugee populations and those affected by the 2023 earthquake in Southern and Central Türkiye face elevated risk of child marriage. As part of the UNICEF Türkiye Country Office (TCO) commitment to implement comprehensive interventions that aim to contribute to a change in social norms and attitudes towards gender equality, the CO and partners have developed the "Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment for Elimination of Child Marriage" program (hereafter "the program"). The program is an 8-week group-based empowerment and life skills training for adolescent girls aged 12 - 18 years old, a 4-session adolescent boys awareness training, and a one-time awareness raising seminar for caregivers. The current trial has the overall objective of evaluating the short-term causal impact of the program with respect to CEFMU and related outcomes for adolescent girls. The trial design is an individual randomized control trial, allocating 820 households with adolescent girls to either treatment or control on a 1:1 basis. The primary data collection includes a pre- and post-intervention caregiver and adolescent face-to-face survey, as well as a one-time qualitative data collection. The trial results will inform the future operation and scale-up of the program, as well as contribute to the broader evidence base on what works to increase the empowerment of adolescent girls and reduce CEFMU.

Detailed description: Low income, refugee, displaced and disaster affected populations face a variety of protection risks, including higher risk of child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU). This is the case in Türkiye, where low income, refugee populations and those affected by the 2023 earthquake in Southern and Central Türkiye face elevated risk of child marriage. As part of the UNICEF Türkiye Country Office (TCO) commitment to implement comprehensive interventions that aim to contribute to a change in social norms and attitudes towards gender equality, the CO and partners have developed the "Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment for Elimination of Child Marriage" program (hereafter "the program"). The program is an 8-week group-based empowerment and life skills training for adolescent girls aged 12 - 18 years old, a 4-session adolescent boys awareness training and a one-time awareness raising seminar for caregivers. The current trial has the overall objective of evaluating the short-term causal impact of the program with respect to CEFMU and related outcomes for adolescent girls. The trial seeks to answer the following evaluation questions:

* 1) Does the program improve participant adolescent girls' agency, self-confidence, and gender-equitable attitudes (including for CEFMU), and to what extent?
* 2) Does the program improve the household enabling environment, including gender-equitable attitudes (including CEFMU), social support, protective behaviors against CEFMU, and use of social services among participating caregivers and in the broader community, and to what extent?
* 3) Does the program reduce CEFMU for adolescent girls, and to what extent?
* 4) Through which pathways (or combination of pathways) do potential impacts occur?
* 5) Was the program implemented in a manner to maximize potential impacts? and
* 6) What is the return-on-investment (cost-benefit calculation) for the program? The trial design is an individual randomized control trial, allocating 820 households with adolescent girls to either treatment or control on a 1:1 basis. The primary data collection includes a pre- and post-intervention caregiver and adolescent face-to-face survey, as well as a one-time qualitative data collection. The trial results will inform the future operation and scale-up of the program, as well as contribute to the broader evidence base on what works to increase the empowerment of adolescent girls and reduce CEFMU.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria (primary study participant, however note that primary female caregivers and siblings will be invited to participate in the study pending inclusion of primary study participant):

* Adolescent girls aged 12 - 17 years
* Unmarried girls
* Have never previously been exposed to the intervention
* Live in a family or household with at least one adult caregiver
* Live in a family who are social service clients of the implementing partner
* Live in a family who are risk-assessed as 'low' or 'medium' on the family risk assessment tool
* Live in a family which is planning on staying in the catchment area of the intervention in the subsequent 6-months

Exclusion criteria:

* Adolescent girls younger than 12 or older than 17 years
* Girls who are married or cohabiting
* Previously been exposed to the intervention
* Are in institutionalized or non-family-based care
* Live in a family who are not social service clients of the implementing partner
* Live in a family who are risk-assessed as 'high' or 'highest' on the family risk assessment tool
* Live in a family which is planning on moving outside the catchment area of the intervention in the subsequent 6-months

Primary outcomes:
measure: Proportion of girls married or cohabiting
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: Score on new general self-efficacy scale (short form, higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: Score on decision-making scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: Score on voice scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: Score on child marriage attitudes scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Scale of perceived social support (higher is better).
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: The Balanced Cohesion subscale of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: The Revised Family Communication Pattern Instrument Conversation Orientation Sub-scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: Score on willingness to intervene and speak out for girls' scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: Baseline and 8-weeks post-intervention
measure: Linkages to services scale (higher is better)
timeFrame: 8-weeks post-intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Ankara
country: Turkey
facility: UNICEF Türkiye
Study officials:
affiliation: UNICEF
name: Zlata Bruckauf, Ph.D.
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References: