Preventing Violence by Teachers Against Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

NCT04948580 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: HE 8505/1-1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 3,264
• Locations: 3 countries
• Sites: 3

Brief Summary

Violence has severe and long-lasting negative consequences for children's and adolescents' well-being and psychosocial functioning, thereby also hampering communities' and societies' economic growth. Studies show high prevalence of violence by teachers against children in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in countries where violence is lawful as disciplinary measure at school and in countries where it has been officially banned. In addition to legal and structural factors (e. g. stressful working conditions for teachers), attitudes favoring violence against children as an effective and acceptable discipline method and the lack of access to alternative non-violent strategies are likely to contribute to teachers' ongoing use of violence against children. Notwithstanding, there are currently very few school-level interventions to reduce violence by teachers that a) have been scientifically evaluated and b) that focus both on changing attitudes towards violence and on equipping teachers with non-violent discipline strategies. Thus, the present study tests the effectiveness of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. Previous studies have provided initial evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce teacher violence in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania and secondary schools in Uganda. This study aims to provide further evidence for the effectiveness of ICC-T to reduce violence and to improve children's functioning (i.e. mental health, well-being, academic performance) across educational settings, societies and cultures.

Conditions

Violence by Teachers

Keywords

school violence; teacher violence; intervention; teachers; students; primary schools; secondary schools

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

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

  The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) will be used to assess students' self-reported experiences of emotional and physical violence by teachers at school in the past week. Higher scores indicate higher levels of violence that is used by teachers. A change of exposure to violence in the intervention group is hypothesized.

  The CTS will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).

• 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 in the past week. Higher scores indicate higher levels of violence that is used by teachers. A change in the use of violence in the intervention group is hypothesized.

  The CTS will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention)

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Change of teachers' positive attitudes towards emotional and physical violence

  The adapted version of CTS will be used at T 1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after the intervention).)

• Change of student's mental health

  The PSC-Y will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention)

• Change of students' quality of life

  The KIDSCREEN-10 will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention) ]

• Change of students' cognitive functioning

  The Psych Lab 101 application will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention)

Other Outcomes (3)

• Change of students' academic performance

  The standardized achievement tests will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).

• Change of students' social competence

  The Social Cognitive Map Technique - peer nomination will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).

• Change of peer victimization

  The MPVS-24 will be used at T1 (baseline, prior to intervention), T2 (first follow-up, 6 months after intervention) and T3 (second follow-up, 18 months after intervention).

Study Arms (2)

ICC-T

EXPERIMENTAL

5.5 days with 8 hours of training for teachers aiming at changing attitudes towards violence and equipping teachers with non-violent discipline strategies

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

Monitoring condition

NO INTERVENTION

No intervention

Interventions

Interaction 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: 7 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• All: Written informed consent (if underaged by parents (written) \& minors themselves (oral or written)
• Students: Enrollment in class 3 of primary school or in class 1 of secondary school
• Teachers: All teachers employed at the school
• Schools:
• Public schools
• Mixed-gender schools
• Day schools
• At least 40 students in selected class/stream

You may not qualify if:

• Acute drug or alcohol intoxication
• Acute psychotic disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bielefeld University: lead
• Daressalaam University College of Education (DUCE): collaborator
• Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST): collaborator
• Presbyterian University College Ghana (PUCG): collaborator

Study Sites (3)

Presbyterian University College Ghana

Abetifi, Ghana

Location

Daressalaam University College of Education

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Location

Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Mbarara, Uganda

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Scharpf F, Kirika A, Masath FB, Mkinga G, Ssenyonga J, Nyarko-Tetteh E, Nkuba M, Karikari AK, Hecker T. Reducing physical and emotional violence by teachers using the intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T): study protocol of a multi-country cluster randomized controlled trial in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. BMC Public Health. 2021 Oct 24;21(1):1930. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11950-y.

  PMID: 34689732 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Tobias Hecker, Prof. Dr.

  Bielefeld University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 28, 2021
• First Posted: July 2, 2021
• Study Start: September 20, 2021
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2024
• Study Completion: July 31, 2025
• Last Updated: September 19, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TA (1); GH (1); UG (1)