Clinical trial NCT06735417: Impacts of the Indashyikirwa Program on Intimate Partner Violence in Syria
Official title: Impacts of the Indashyikirwa Program on Reducing and Preventing Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Syria
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
Well-being/Quality of Life
Decision Making
Gender-Based Violence
Gender Equality
Gender Role
Empowerment
Keywords: Syria
Heterosexual couple
Gender transformative approach
Conflict settings
Randomised controlled trial
Couple curriculum
Lead sponsor: International Security and Development Center gGmbH
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
name: Syria Resilience Initiative (SRI)
name: United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth Development Office
First posted: 2024-12-16
Enrollment: 1200
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Indashyikirwa program in enhancing women's empowerment and reducing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in conflict-affected communities in Northeast Syria.

The intervention group will participate in the Indashyikirwa ("Agents of Change") program, which includes a comprehensive couples' training module and access to safe spaces. The control group will not receive the Indashyikirwa program. Both intervention and control groups are beneficieries of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) support and Vocational Training (VT) to promote economic empowerment.

The study employs a cluster-randomized controlled trial (cRCT) design. Out of 30 pre-identified villages, 15 villages were randomly assigned to receive the Indashyikirwa program and 15 villages will not receive the Indashyikirwa program. The villages were located within the same sub-districts to ensure a balanced geographic distribution of the intervention.

Based on a power analysis with 80% power, at least 16 married couples from eligible SME and VT beneficiaries will be voluntarily enrolled in each village to receive the Indashyikirwa intervention. Similarly, 16 eligible SME and VT married couples from control villages will be enrolled using the same voluntary participation principle. To account for potential attrition, 20 couples per village will be initially enrolled, ensuring a robust sample size for analysis. This approach results in a total sample size of 600 couples (or 1,200 individual participants).

The primary objective of this study is to assess the impact of Indashyikirwa program on key outcomes, including the reduction in IPV, transformation of gender norms, enhancement of women's empowerment, improvements in intra-household dynamics, economic benefits to the household.

Data collection will involve structured surveys administered separately to both husbands and wives. Surveys will be conducted at four time points: baseline, 2 months post-intervention, 12 months post-intervention, and 24 months post-intervention.


Eligibility criteria: Two levels of eligibility:

1. At the village level:

   * Villages must be receiving the SME and VT programs by the implementing partners.
   * Villages must have at least 16 eligible couples (married women and their husbands).
2. At the individual level:

   * Women must be aged 18 or older.
   * Women must be currently married and residing in the same household as their husbands.
   * Women must be participants in the vocational training (VT) program and eligible for SME grants.

Exclusion Criteria

* Villages or individuals not meeting the inclusion criteria.
* Women who are unmarried, divorced, or widowed.
* Women who do not reside with their husbands in the same household.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Changes in intimate partner violence incidence over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Changes in acceptability of wife beating over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months and 24 months post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Changes in the level of conflict in intimate relationships over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Changes in the level of marriage satisfaction among couples over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Extent of relationship quality with the partner
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Level of women involvement in intra-household decision-making
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Extent of spousal support in women's business
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Level of women's self-efficacy in economic activities
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Extent of women's mobility and decision-making autonomy
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Extent of peer support to women
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Assessing current level of positive well-being among couples
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Changes in the extent of agreement to favorable gender norms over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
Other outcomes:
measure: Changes in household earnings over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Changes in household food security status over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
measure: Changes in household coping strategies over time
timeFrame: 2 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-intervention
Locations:
city: Al-Hasakah
country: Syrian Arab Republic
facility: Syria Resilience Initiative
Study officials:
affiliation: International Security and Development Center gGmbH
name: Tilman Brück, PhD
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References: