Implementation of the Good School Toolkit in Uganda: a quantitative process evaluation of a successful violence prevention program.

BACKGROUND: The Good School Toolkit, a complex behavioural intervention designed by Raising Voices a Ugandan NGO, reduced past week physical violence from school staff to primary students by an average of 42% in a recent randomised controlled trial. This process evaluation quantitatively examines what was implemented across the twenty-one intervention schools, variations in school prevalence of violence after the intervention, factors that influence exposure to the intervention and factors associated with students' experience of physical violence from staff at study endline. METHODS: Implementation measures were captured prospectively in the twenty-one intervention schools over four school terms from 2012 to 2014 and Toolkit exposure captured in the student (n = 1921) and staff (n = 286) endline cross-sectional surveys in 2014. Implementation measures and the prevalence of violence are summarised across schools and are assessed for correlation using Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient. Regression models are used to explore individual factors associated with Toolkit exposure and with physical violence at endline. RESULTS: School prevalence of past week physical violence from staff against students ranged from 7% to 65% across schools at endline. Schools with higher mean levels of teacher Toolkit exposure had larger decreases in violence during the study. Students in schools categorised as implementing a 'low' number of program school-led activities reported less exposure to the Toolkit. Higher student Toolkit exposure was associated with decreased odds of experiencing physical violence from staff (OR: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.67-0.86, p-value< 0.001). Girls, students reporting poorer mental health and students in a lower grade were less exposed to the toolkit. After the intervention, and when adjusting for individual Toolkit exposure, some students remained at increased risk of experiencing violence from staff, including, girls, students reporting poorer mental health, students who experienced other violence and those reporting difficulty with self-care. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that increasing students and teachers exposure to the Good School Toolkit within schools has the potential to bring about further reductions in violence. Effectiveness of the Toolkit may be increased by further targeting and supporting teachers' engagement with girls and students with mental health difficulties. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov , NCT01678846, August 24th 2012.

Witnessing intimate partner violence and child maltreatment in Ugandan children: a cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVES: Existing evidence, mainly from high-income countries, shows children who witness intimate partner violence (IPV) at home are more likely to experience other forms of violence, but very little evidence is available from lower income countries. In this paper we aim to explore whether Ugandan children who witness IPV at home are also more likely to experience other forms of maltreatment, factors associated with witnessing and experiencing violence, and whether any increased risk comes from parents, or others outside the home. DESIGN: A representative cross-sectional survey of primary schools. PARTICIPANTS: 3427 non-boarding primary school students, aged about 11-14 years. SETTING: Luwero District, Uganda, 2012. MEASURES: Exposure to child maltreatment was measured using the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool-Child Institutional, and 2 questions measured witnessing IPV. RESULTS: 26% of children reported witnessing IPV, but nearly all of these children had also experienced violence themselves. Only 0.6% of boys and 1.6% of girls had witnessed partner violence and not experienced violence. Increased risk of violence was from parents and also from other perpetrators besides parents. Both girls and boys who witnessed and experienced violence had between 1.66 (95% CI 0.96 to 2.87) and 4.50 (95% CI 1.78 to 11.33) times the odds of reporting mental health difficulties, and 3.23 (95% CI 1.99 to 5.24) and 8.12 (95% CI 5.15 to 12.80) times the odds of using physical or sexual violence themselves. CONCLUSIONS: In this sample, witnessing IPV almost never occurred in isolation-almost all children who witnessed partner violence also experienced violence themselves. Our results imply that children in Uganda who are exposed to multiple forms of violence may benefit from intervention to mitigate mental health consequences and reduce use of violence. IPV prevention interventions should be considered to reduce child maltreatment. Large numbers of children also experience maltreatment in homes with no partner violence, highlighting the need for interventions to prevent child maltreatment more broadly. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01678846, results.

"I never expected that it would happen, coming to ask me such questions":Ethical aspects of asking children about violence in resource poor settings.

BACKGROUND: International epidemiological research into violence against children is increasing in scope and frequency, but little has been written about practical management of the ethical aspects of conducting such research in low and middle-income countries. In this paper, we describe our study procedures and reflect on our experiences conducting a survey of more than 3,700 primary school children in Uganda as part of the Good Schools Study, a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based violence prevention intervention. Children were questioned extensively about their experiences of physical, sexual, and emotional violence from a range of different perpetrators. We describe our sensitisation and consent procedures, developed based on our previous research experience and requirements for our study setting. To respond to disclosures of abuse that occurred during our survey, we describe a referral algorithm developed in conjunction with local services. We then describe our experience of actually implementing these procedures in our 2012 survey, based on reflections of the research team. Drawing on 40 qualitative interviews, we describe children's experiences of participating in the survey and of being referred to local child protection services. RESULTS: Although we were able to implement much of our protocol in a straightforward manner, we also encountered major challenges in relation to the response of local services to children's disclosures of violence. The research team had to intervene to ensure that children were provided with appropriate support and that our ethical obligations were met. CONCLUSIONS: In resource poor settings, finding local services that can provide appropriate support for children may be challenging, and researchers need to have concrete plans and back-up plans in place to ensure that obligations can be met. The merits of mandatory reporting of children's disclosures to local services need to be considered on a case by case basis-in some places this has the potential to do harm. Research teams also must agree on what level of ancillary care will be provided, and budget accordingly. Further practical examples of how to address the challenges encountered in this work are needed, in order to build a consensus on best practices. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01678846 (clinicaltrials.gov), August 24, 2012.

The Good School Toolkit for reducing physical violence from school staff to primary school students: a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Violence against children from school staff is widespread in various settings, but few interventions address this. We tested whether the Good School Toolkit-a complex behavioural intervention designed by Ugandan not-for-profit organisation Raising Voices-could reduce physical violence from school staff to Ugandan primary school children. METHODS: We randomly selected 42 primary schools (clusters) from 151 schools in Luwero District, Uganda, with more than 40 primary 5 students and no existing governance interventions. All schools agreed to be enrolled. All students in primary 5, 6, and 7 (approximate ages 11-14 years) and all staff members who spoke either English or Luganda and could provide informed consent were eligible for participation in cross-sectional baseline and endline surveys in June-July 2012 and 2014, respectively. We randomly assigned 21 schools to receive the Good School Toolkit and 21 to a waitlisted control group in September, 2012. The intervention was implemented from September, 2012, to April, 2014. Owing to the nature of the intervention, it was not possible to mask assignment. The primary outcome, assessed in 2014, was past week physical violence from school staff, measured by students' self-reports using the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool-Child Institutional. Analyses were by intention to treat, and are adjusted for clustering within schools and for baseline school-level means of continuous outcomes. The trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01678846. FINDINGS: No schools left the study. At 18-month follow-up, 3820 (92·4%) of 4138 randomly sampled students participated in a cross-sectional survey. Prevalence of past week physical violence was lower in the intervention schools (595/1921, 31·0%) than in the control schools (924/1899, 48·7%; odds ratio 0·40, 95% CI 0·26-0·64, p<0·0001). No adverse events related to the intervention were detected, but 434 children were referred to child protective services because of what they disclosed in the follow-up survey. INTERPRETATION: The Good School Toolkit is an effective intervention to reduce violence against children from school staff in Ugandan primary schools. FUNDING: MRC, DfID, Wellcome Trust, Hewlett Foundation.

Violence against primary school children with disabilities in Uganda: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: 150 million children live with disabilities globally, and a recent systematic review found 3 to 4 times the levels of violence versus non-disabled children in high income countries. However, almost nothing is known about violence against disabled children in lower income countries. We aim to explore the prevalence, patterns and risk factors for physical, sexual and emotional violence among disabled children attending primary school in Luwero District, Uganda. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of data from the baseline survey of the Good Schools Study. 3706 children and young adolescents aged 11-14 were randomly sampled from 42 primary schools. Descriptive statistics were computed and logistic regression models fitted. RESULTS: 8.8% of boys and 7.6% of girls reported a disability. Levels of violence against both disabled and non-disabled children were extremely high. Disabled girls report slightly more physical (99.1% vs 94.6%, p = 0.010) and considerably more sexual violence (23.6% vs 12.3%, p = 0.002) than non-disabled girls; for disabled and non-disabled boys, levels are not statistically different. The school environment is one of the main venues at which violence is occurring, but patterns differ by sex. Risk factors for violence are similar between disabled and non-disabled students. CONCLUSIONS: In Uganda, disabled girls are at particular risk of violence, notably sexual violence. Schools may be a promising venue for intervention delivery. Further research on the epidemiology and prevention of violence against disabled and non-disabled children in low income countries is urgently needed.

Childhood sexual abuse and suicidal behavior: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Self-inflicted injuries are one of the major causes of disease burden and death globally. Understanding the extent to which this is associated with childhood sexual abuse (CSA) exposure can help inform prevention strategies. We aimed to quantify to what extent CSA was associated with incident suicide attempts in men and women. METHODS: We searched 20 health and social science databases from first record until February 2009 and updated the search in Medline from February 2009 to February 1, 2013. Longitudinal studies and cotwin analyses from twin studies in any population from any year were eligible for inclusion. Of 22 235 abstracts screened as part of a series of reviews, 9 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Characteristics, effect estimates, and quality data were extracted. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to generate pooled odds ratios (ORs). RESULTS: Seven longitudinal and 2 twin studies with 8733 participants met the inclusion criteria. The overall pooled estimate for longitudinal studies was OR = 2.43 (95% confidence interval: 1.94-3.05), I(2) = 87.5%, P < .0001. The pooled OR from cotwin analysis was 2.65 (95% confidence interval: 0.82-4.49, I(2) = 0%, P = .867). Studies adjusted for a range of confounders, but baseline suicidal behavior was not well-controlled. Too few studies met the inclusion criteria to quantitatively examine sources of heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS: CSA exposure is associated with suicide attempts when a range of different confounders are controlled for, but the temporality of the association is not well established, and the association is highly heterogeneous.

Intimate partner violence victimization and alcohol consumption in women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIMS: To examine the evidence of association between intimate partner physical or sexual violence (IPV) victimization and alcohol consumption in women. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies released before 6 June 2013. Studies providing an estimate of association between violence and alcohol consumption or alcohol use disorders were eligible for inclusion. Quality was assessed and random effects meta-analyses used to generate pooled odds ratios (OR) where appropriate. Higgins I(2) where P<0.10 was taken to indicate heterogeneity. RESULTS: Fifty-five studies providing 102 estimates of association met the inclusion criteria. Most estimates were not controlled for partner alcohol use and other key confounders. Seven longitudinal studies provided 12 estimates of the association between alcohol and subsequent IPV; nine of 12 estimates showed a direction of increased odds of subsequent IPV, pooled OR=1.27 [95% confidence interval (CI)=1.07-1.52], I(2) =0%, P=0.437. Nine longitudinal studies provided 15 estimates of association between IPV and subsequent alcohol use; 14 of 15 estimates showed a direction of increased odds of subsequent alcohol use, pooled OR=1.25 (95% CI 1.02-1.52), I(2)=0%, P=0.751. Cross-sectional studies showed an association between IPV and alcohol use, pooled OR=1.80, 95% CI 1.58-2.06, but with substantial heterogeneity, I(2)=60.8%, P<0.0001. Definition of alcohol use partly accounted for heterogeneity in cross-sectional estimates. CONCLUSIONS: There is a clear positive association between alcohol use and intimate partner physical or sexual violence victimization among women, suggesting a need for programming and research that addresses this link. However, the temporal direction of the association remains unclear. Longitudinal studies with multiple waves of data collection are needed.

School violence, mental health, and educational performance in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Violence against children from school staff is anecdotally common in low- and middle-income countries, but data on prevalence and associations with mental health and educational outcomes are lacking. METHODS: We report data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in June and July 2012 in Luwero District, Uganda. Forty-two primary schools representing 80% of students in the district were randomly selected; 100% agreed to participate. The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool-Child Institutional; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; and reading, spelling, and math tests were administered. We present descriptive statistics and logistic regression models, accounting for the complex sampling scheme used in the survey. RESULTS: We surveyed 3706 students and 577 school staff members; 93.3% (SE 1.0%) of boys and 94.2% (SE 1.6%) of girls attending primary school reported lifetime experience of physical violence from a school staff member, and >50% reported experience in the past week. Past-week physical violence was associated with increased odds of poor mental health and, for girls, double the odds of poor educational performance (adjusted odds ratio = 1.78, 95% confidence interval = 1.19-2.66). For boys, significant interactions were present. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a ban on corporal punishment in Ugandan schools since 1997, the use of violence against students is widespread and associated with poor mental health and educational performance. School violence may be an important but overlooked contributor to disease burden and poor educational performance in low- and middle-income settings.

The Good Schools Toolkit to prevent violence against children in Ugandan primary schools: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the Good School Toolkit, developed by Raising Voices, in preventing violence against children attending school and in improving child mental health and educational outcomes. METHODS/DESIGN: We are conducting a two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial with parallel assignment in Luwero District, Uganda. We will also conduct a qualitative study, a process evaluation and an economic evaluation. A total of 42 schools, representative of Luwero District, Uganda, were allocated to receive the Toolkit plus implementation support, or were allocated to a wait-list control condition. Our main analysis will involve a cross-sectional comparison of the prevalence of past-week violence from school staff as reported by children in intervention and control primary schools at follow-up.At least 60 children per school and all school staff members will be interviewed at follow-up. Data collection involves a combination of mobile phone-based, interviewer-completed questionnaires and paper-and-pen educational tests. Survey instruments include the ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tools to assess experiences of violence; the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to measure symptoms of common childhood mental disorders; and word recognition, reading comprehension, spelling, arithmetic and sustained attention tests adapted from an intervention trial in Kenya. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study to rigorously investigate the effects of any intervention to prevent violence from school staff to children in primary school in a low-income setting. We hope the results will be informative across the African region and in other settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov NCT01678846.

Intimate partner violence and incident depressive symptoms and suicide attempts: a systematic review of longitudinal studies.

BACKGROUND: Depression and suicide are responsible for a substantial burden of disease globally. Evidence suggests that intimate partner violence (IPV) experience is associated with increased risk of depression, but also that people with mental disorders are at increased risk of violence. We aimed to investigate the extent to which IPV experience is associated with incident depression and suicide attempts, and vice versa, in both women and men. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies published before February 1, 2013. More than 22,000 records from 20 databases were searched for studies examining physical and/or sexual intimate partner or dating violence and symptoms of depression, diagnosed major depressive disorder, dysthymia, mild depression, or suicide attempts. Random effects meta-analyses were used to generate pooled odds ratios (ORs). Sixteen studies with 36,163 participants met our inclusion criteria. All studies included female participants; four studies also included male participants. Few controlled for key potential confounders other than demographics. All but one depression study measured only depressive symptoms. For women, there was clear evidence of an association between IPV and incident depressive symptoms, with 12 of 13 studies showing a positive direction of association and 11 reaching statistical significance; pooled OR from six studies = 1.97 (95% CI 1.56-2.48, I²  =  50.4%, p(heterogeneity = 0.073). There was also evidence of an association in the reverse direction between depressive symptoms and incident IPV (pooled OR from four studies = 1.93, 95% CI 1.51-2.48, I²  =  0%, p = 0.481). IPV was also associated with incident suicide attempts. For men, evidence suggested that IPV was associated with incident depressive symptoms, but there was no clear evidence of an association between IPV and suicide attempts or depression and incident IPV. CONCLUSIONS: In women, IPV was associated with incident depressive symptoms, and depressive symptoms with incident IPV. IPV was associated with incident suicide attempts. In men, few studies were conducted, but evidence suggested IPV was associated with incident depressive symptoms. There was no clear evidence of association with suicide attempts.