Familia Imara: A Parenting Program to Reduce Family Violence in Tanzania

NCT07574567 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2025P013910
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 6,216
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This cluster-randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effectiveness, implementation, and scalability of Familia Imara, a group-based, couples-focused, community health worker (CHW)-delivered parenting program, on reducing intimate partner violence (IPV), harsh discipline, and improving child development and nutrition outcomes in the Mara and Geita regions of Tanzania. Villages will be randomly assigned to either an intervention or control arm. The study will be implemented in two sequential cohorts. In Cohort 1, a traditional randomized controlled trial will compare intervention villages receiving the program to control villages receiving no intervention (waitlist control), with delivery supported primarily by implementing partners in collaboration with government supervisors. In Cohort 2, the same villages will retain their original assignment. Intervention villages will receive the program under a government-led delivery model to assess scalability and integration into existing systems, while control villages will transition from waitlist to receive the intervention. Evidence generated will inform policy and practice for preventing family violence and promoting early childhood development at scale.

Conditions

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Keywords

Intimate Partner Violence; Couples; Parenting; Harsh Discipline; Early Childhood Development; Nutrition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Maternal intimate partner violence victimization

  Mothers will report on their experiences of intimate partner violence in the past six months using a standardized set of violent acts perpetrated by their partner (i.e., the child's father), adapted from the World Health Organization's multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence against women. The primary IPV indicator will be a proportion reflecting the percentage of mothers who report experiencing any form of IPV. In addition, we will calculate separate binary indicators for each type of IPV (physical, sexual, and emotional).

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Child dietary diversity

  Child dietary diversity will be reported by mothers as the number of food groups (out of eight) consumed by the child in the previous 24 hours, following World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. This measure is assessed in children aged six months and older, with higher scores indicating a greater likelihood of achieving a nutritionally adequate diet.

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Parental harsh disciplinary practices

  Parental disciplinary practices will be self-reported by both mothers and fathers in terms of harsh disciplinary practices (e.g., shook the child, shouted at the child) used by the parent towards the child in the past month. Items were adapted from the Child Discipline Module of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. The primary indicator will be a proportion for mothers and fathers who used any harsh disciplinary practices, with separate indicators by type (physical, verbal).

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Caregiver Reported Early Development Instrument (CREDI) long form

  Early child development will be measured using the Caregiver Reported Early Development Instrument (CREDI) long form. It relies on parental reporting and assesses four domains of early developmental milestones: motor, language, cognitive, and socioemotional development. Higher scores reflect a greater number of age-appropriate developmental skills as reported by caregivers.

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• IPV attitudes

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Knowledge of child nutrition and development

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Parenting attitudes

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Parental stimulation

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

• Couples' communication

  Baseline, 11 months, 22 months

Study Arms (2)

Familia Imara

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be offered a parenting program delivered within their community, consisting of two sessions per month over approximately 10 months.

Behavioral: Familia Imara

Waitlist Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will not receive any intervention in Cohort 1 and will serve as a comparison group.

Interventions

Familia Imara BEHAVIORAL

Familia Imara is a couples-based, group parenting program delivered by trained community health workers (CHWs) in community settings. In each village, one male and one female CHW are assigned to facilitate the program. They co-facilitate joint couples' sessions and lead separate peer group sessions for mothers and fathers in a gender-matched format. Sessions are approximately 2 hours in duration and occur twice monthly over a 10-month period. Curriculum content includes: prevention of IPV and harsh discipline, play and early learning stimulation, nutrition and infant and young child feeding practices, couples' communication and conflict resolution, stress management, power, and gender norms and roles.

Familia Imara

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• The household has a child aged 0-24 months at enrollment
• The child has a primary female caregiver (i.e., mother) and a primary male caregiver (i.e., father) who are in a partnered relationship
• Primary female caregiver, primary male caregiver, and child reside together in the same household
• Both caregivers provide written informed consent for themselves and their child to participate in the study

You may not qualify if:

• Expecting to relocate in the next year

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Saini Das: lead
• Emory University: collaborator
• National Institute of Medical Research: collaborator
• The Prevention Collaborative: collaborator
• Global Communities: collaborator
• Kivulini Women's Right Organization: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

RECRUITING

Central Study Contacts

Joshua Jeong, ScD

CONTACT

404-727-2671; joshua.jeong@emory.edu

Gerry Mshana, PhD

CONTACT

gerrymshana@hotmail.com

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Research Scientist

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 1, 2026
• First Posted: May 8, 2026
• Study Start: May 2, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2028
• Last Updated: May 8, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TA (1)