Domestic Violence Discussion Session

NCT01322880 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HF15660-101
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 598
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Over the last twenty years micro-finance based interventions have proven to be a popular and often effective means of improving the economic outcomes of impoverished women. However, the gains to microfinance based interventions on women's decision making in both economic and non-economic arenas remains largely unknown. Specifically, the question of to what extent does access to small-scale credit alone, rather than other programs often combined with microfinance, affect women's empowerment is of particular interest when determining interventions in a variety of setting in developing nations. There exists evidence that women's empowerment is associated with reduced violence and as such maybe an important tool for improving adult women's wellbeing. In addition increased decision making power by women has been associated with improvement in children's health outcomes, especially for girls, and as such may be way generating intergenerational improvements in women's outcomes. The goal of this project is to disentangle the effects of access to credit alone from the information on financial and personal decision making that is frequently coupled with these programs. To accomplish this, the investigators use a randomized field experiment among participants in Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA's). VSLA participants are a self-selected group of people who pool their money into a fund from which members can borrow. The money is paid back with interest, causing the fund to grow. The regular savings contributions to the VSLA are deposited with an end date (usually less than 1 year) after which all or part of the total funds are distributed to the individual members. The small loans are paid back with interest which is determined by the group at the time of formation and the returns from these interest payments are also distributed to the groups. The investigators then test whether there are additional gains to women's well-being by providing VSLA participants with training on process-based decision making to determine if there is a need for additional efforts to improve the decision making structure in households. To the extent that increased access to credit and more broadly financial resources is limited by existing constraints on women's decision making power, this additional training may be a necessary part of the creation of credit markets in improving the health and well-being of women and children.

Conditions

Intimate Partner Violence

Keywords

domestic violence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Domestic Violence Exposure

  The measure of exposure to violence used in this survey is the Hurt Insult Threaten Scream (HITS) instrument. It includes four items: physical abuse, insults, threats and screaming. The four items are scored on a Likert 5-point scale. The HITS was chosen due to its proven applicability in a variety of settings , and because it allows for a rapid appraisal of past experiences of violence. Its measurement regards the two weeks prior to the interview. Similar to the more commonly used World Health Organization methodology, but includes indicators of abuse such as threats and insults.

  baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 15 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Attitudes towards gender roles and rights

  Baseline, 6 months, 15 months

• Economic Empowerment

  baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 15 months

Study Arms (2)

Control Arm

OTHER

The project, administered by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), involved 25 village savings and loans association (VSLA) groups across the province. The VSLA groups initially formed through local members of the community designated as community based facilitators (CBF).

Behavioral: Village Savings and Loans Associations

Treatment Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Half of the VSLA participants were invited to participate in an additional set of discussion groups to be attended along with their spouse. All participants were informed that due to space constraints, only half of the members would be able to attend. In each VSLA, individuals drew numbers from a bag or hat, and those with "winning" slips were the ones who entered the discussion groups with spouses.

Behavioral: Discussion sessions; Behavioral: Village Savings and Loans Associations

Interventions

Discussion sessions BEHAVIORAL

Those selected were invited to attend a 6 session course on household decision-making with their spouses. Topics included budgeting, household financial management, and negotiation skills

Also known as: Household Financial Training

Treatment Group

Village Savings and Loans Associations BEHAVIORAL

The approach developed by CARE International develops Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs). A VSLA is a self-selected group of people who pool their money into a fund from which members can borrow. The money is paid back with interest, causing the fund to grow. The regular savings contributions to the Association are deposited with an end date in mind for distribution of all or part of the total funds (including interest earnings) to the individual members, usually on the basis of a formula that links payout to the amount saved. This lump sum distribution provides a large amount of money that members can then use as they want, without restriction.

Also known as: Village Microfinance

Control Arm; Treatment Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Participation in Village Savings and Loans Association program administered by International Rescue Committee--Burundi

Sponsors & Collaborators

• London School of Economics and Political Science: lead

Study Sites (1)

International Rescue Committee--Burundi

Makamba, Makamba Province, Burundi

Location

Related Links

• Supplementary Material for Intervention (training, survey instruments, instructions)

Study Officials

• Radha Iyengar, PhD

  London School of Economics and Political Science

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 24, 2011
• First Posted: March 25, 2011
• Study Start: January 1, 2008
• Primary Completion: April 1, 2009
• Study Completion: April 1, 2009
• Last Updated: March 25, 2011

Record last verified: 2009-02

Locations

BU (1)