Preventing Violence Against Children in Schools Study

NCT03745573 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: 11106
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 2,120
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

To date, no interventions to prevent violence in refugee camp schools have ever been rigorously evaluated. The primary objective of this project is to test the effectiveness of the Empateach intervention to prevent physical violence from teachers to students in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania. Secondary objectives are to assess the impact of the Empateach intervention on student's depressive symptoms, experience of emotional violence and educational test scores. A two arm cluster RCT with parallel assignment will be conducted.

Conditions

Violence, Physical; Violence; Child Abuse; Violence Against Children

Keywords

corporal punishment, teacher violence, school violence, sexual violence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• physical violence

  students' self-reports of physical violence from school staff in the past week, as measured by a modified ICAST-CI

  Assessed at 10-week follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• physical violence

  Assessed at 6-month follow-up

• emotional violence

  past 1 week; assessed at 10-week and 6-month follow-up

• depressive symptoms

  past 2 weeks; assessed at 10-week and 6-month follow-up

• educational performance

  assessed at the end of the school year, about 11-12 months from baseline

Study Arms (2)

Empateach Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

All teachers in intervention schools will be invited to participate. Participants in the intervention condition will receive Empateach, a 10-week group intervention. Groups meet 14 times for 1-1.5 hour length sessions, which are led by peers. The aim of the Empateach intervention is to improve 'student and teacher well-being; self-regulation; teacher classroom management and teacher's use of positive discipline techniques. The intervention uses cognitive behavioural therapy techniques to change negative thought and behaviour patterns related to corporal punishment. The teachers receive information on alternatives to corporal punishment, planning exercises and reinforcement SMS, and because the intervention is in a group setting, social support to change their behaviours. They discuss their experiences and challenges in group sessions.

Behavioral: Empateach

Wait-list control

NO INTERVENTION

Teachers in wait-list control schools will receive no specific interventions related to violence prevention during the study, but will receive the intervention after the study is over if it is shown to be effective (pending donor funding).

Interventions

Empateach BEHAVIORAL

Empateach is a behavioural intervention for teachers.

Empateach Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 9 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• At the school level, all 27 primary and secondary schools in Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania, will be eligible. The intervention is delivered to individual teachers, and all teachers working in included schools will be eligible to receive the intervention. The hypothesized intervention effect will be in all students being taught by participating teachers; however we will measure effects of the intervention in students who are aged 9 years and over. Data will be collected from both students and teachers.
• At the level of individual students, all students who can speak Kirundi or Swahili, and who are capable of providing assent, will be eligible to participate
• At the level of individual teachers, all teachers who can speak Kirundi or Swahili, and who are capable of providing informed consent, will be eligible to participate

You may not qualify if:

• for individual students, those who cannot speak Kirundi or Swahili, or who are not capable of providing assent
• for individual teachers, those who cannot speak Kirundi or Swahili, or who are not capable of providing informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: lead
• National Institutes of Medical Research, Tanzania: collaborator
• Innovations for Poverty Action, Tanzania: collaborator
• International Rescue Committee: collaborator
• Behavioural Insights Team: collaborator

Related Publications (3)

• Bakari M, Shayo EH, Barongo V, Kiwale Z, Fabbri C, Turner E, Eldred E, Mubyazi GM, Rodrigues K, Devries K. Qualitative process evaluation of the EmpaTeach intervention to reduce teacher violence in schools in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania. BMJ Open. 2023 Sep 21;13(9):e069993. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069993.

  PMID: 37734883 DERIVED

• Fabbri C, Rodrigues K, Leurent B, Allen E, Qiu M, Zuakulu M, Nombo D, Kaemingk M, De Filippo A, Torrats-Espinosa G, Shayo E, Barongo V, Greco G, Tol W, Devries KM. The EmpaTeach intervention for reducing physical violence from teachers to students in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp: A cluster-randomised controlled trial. PLoS Med. 2021 Oct 4;18(10):e1003808. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003808. eCollection 2021 Oct.

  PMID: 34606500 DERIVED

• Devries KM, Fabbri C, Allen E, Barongo V, Shayo E, Greco G, Kaemingk M, Qiu M, Steinacher R, Tol W, Rodrigues K. Preventing violence against children in schools (PVACS): protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial of the EmpaTeach behavioural intervention in Nyarugusu refugee camp. BMC Public Health. 2019 Oct 15;19(1):1295. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7627-y.

  PMID: 31615467 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Karen M Devries, PhD

  London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Patricia Henley, PhD

CONTACT

02079272221; patricia.henley@lshtm.ac.uk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Due to the behavioural nature of the intervention, it is not possible to mask allocation to participants. Outcome assessors will not be told of allocation, but due to the nature of the intervention they should be assumed to be unmasked. The statistician performing the main trial analyses related to primary and secondary outcomes will be masked to allocation, but other investigators will not.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Schools will be randomised to receive the intervention or a wait-list control condition. Assignment will be parallel.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 6, 2018
• First Posted: November 19, 2018
• Study Start: November 16, 2018
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2019
• Study Completion: July 31, 2020
• Last Updated: November 19, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-11