Preventing Violence by Teachers

NCT03893851 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: ICC-T-Primary-Tz-2019
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 914
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Brief Summary: Violence against children is regarded as a key contributor to poverty and damages lifetime prospects for children in disadvantaged communities. However, physical violence is legally accepted as a disciplinary measure in schools in 68 states worldwide. For example, in Tanzania, corporal punishment is still lawful at school. It is thus not surprising that recently very high rates of violence (\~90%) were found at secondary schools. For children of primary school age, no such information is available from representative samples to date. Moreover, in recent studies teachers often report having to resort to violent disciplinary methods referring to a lack of nonviolent disciplinary alternatives . However, only few interventions that aim at equipping teachers with non-violent action alternatives in Sub-Saharan Africa have been implemented, and even fewer have been scientifically evaluated. Thus, in this study the investigators will implement and assess the efficacy of an intervention aimed at reducing the use of harsh and violent disciplinary measures in schools. Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teacher (ICC-T) aims to enable teachers to use non-violent disciplinary measures and to strengthen their competencies in non-violent interactions. Previously its feasibility and efficacy were proven in secondary schools in Tanzania. The present study aims to adapt ICC-T to, and evaluate its efficacy on, primary school level. The training is expected to improve the teacher-student relationships, change teacher's attitudes towards corporal punishment and their use of violent disciplinary measures.

Conditions

Violence by Teachers

Keywords

violence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change of teachers' use of emotional and physical violence

  \- The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) will be used to assess teachers' use of emotional and physical violent discipline measures against students. Higher scores indicate higher levels of violence that is used by teachers. We hypothesize a stronger change of the use of violence in the intervention group compared to the control group.

  - The CTS will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention).

• Change of student's exposure to emotional and physical violence by teachers

  \- The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) will assess the students' self-reported experiences of emotional and physical violence by teachers at school. Higher scores indicate higher levels of violence that is used by teachers. We hypothesize a stronger change of exposure to violence in the intervention group compared to the control group.

  - The CTS will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change of student's mental health

  - The SDQ will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)

• Change of teachers' attitudes towards emotional and physical violence

  - The adapted version of CTS will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention) and T2 (follow-up, 3 months after intervention)

Study Arms (2)

ICC-T

EXPERIMENTAL

Interactions Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) 5.5 days with 8 hours of training for teachers. Core training components include teacher-student interaction, maltreatment prevention, effective discipline strategies, identifying and supporting burdened students and implementation of the training materials into the school setting

Behavioral: Interactions Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

The control schools do not receive any intervention

Interventions

Interactions Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) BEHAVIORAL

Core training components include teacher-student interaction, maltreatment prevention, effective discipline strategies, identifying and supporting burdened students and implementation of the training materials into the school setting.

ICC-T

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Written informed consent (if underaged by parents \& minors)

You may not qualify if:

• Acute drug or alcohol intoxication
• Acute psychotic disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bielefeld University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Dar es Salaam University College of Education

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Masath FB, Mattonet K, Hermenau K, Nkuba M, Hecker T. Reducing Violent Discipline by Teachers: a Matched Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Tanzanian Public Primary Schools. Prev Sci. 2023 Jul;24(5):999-1010. doi: 10.1007/s11121-023-01550-0. Epub 2023 May 26.

  PMID: 37233888 DERIVED

• Masath FB, Hermenau K, Nkuba M, Hecker T. Reducing violent discipline by teachers using Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T): study protocol for a matched cluster randomized controlled trial in Tanzanian public primary schools. Trials. 2020 Jan 2;21(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3828-z.

  PMID: 31898516 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Tobias Hecker, PhD

  Bielefeld University

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Resarch Group Leader

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 25, 2019
• First Posted: March 28, 2019
• Study Start: April 8, 2019
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2020
• Study Completion: December 31, 2020
• Last Updated: January 27, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TA (1)