Effects of a violence prevention intervention in schools and surrounding communities: Secondary analysis of a cluster randomised-controlled trial in Uganda.

Katherine G Merrill,Elizabeth Allen,Louise Knight,Karen M Devries,Dipak Naker,Sophie Namy

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.06.007

Katherine G Merrill, Elizabeth Allen + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.06.007

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Abstract

The Good School Toolkit is effective in reducing staff violence against children in Ugandan primary schools. A secondary analysis of cluster-randomised trial data was conducted to investigate intervention effects on school operational culture, and on normative beliefs and violence against children from caregivers outside of school. Students and staff completed cross-sectional surveys at baseline in 2012 and follow-up in 2014. Students’ caregivers completed follow-up surveys only. Data from 3820 students, 597 staff, and 799 caregivers were included in cross-sectional analyses at follow-up. Statistically significant intervention effects were observed for aspects of school operational culture, including students’ greater perceived emotional support from teachers and peers, students’ greater identification with their school, students’ and staffs’ lower acceptance of physical discipline practices in school, and students’ and staffs’ greater perceived involvement in school operations. Outside the school, the intervention was associated with significantly lower normative beliefs accepting the use of physical discipline practices in schools (adjusted mean difference, AMD: −0.77; 95%CI: −0.89 to −0.66; p < 0.001) and at home (AMD: −0.67; 95%CI: −0.80 to −0.54; p < 0.001), based on aggregated caregiver reports. No differences between groups were observed in past-week violence against children at home. This intervention shows promise as a platform for addressing violence against children within the school environment and surrounding community.

Highlights

Violence against children is a serious public health issue worldwide and a human rights violation, highlighted in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Pinheiro, 2006)
Intervention effects were observed beyond the school setting; there was very strong evidence of a difference between control and intervention schools in normative beliefs around the acceptability of physical discipline practices at school and at home, based on aggregated reports from students’ caregivers at follow-up
These findings suggest that school-based interventions show promise in producing positive changes within the school setting and in surrounding communities

Summary

Introduction

Violence against children is a serious public health issue worldwide and a human rights violation, highlighted in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Pinheiro, 2006). The consequences of such violence are devastating, spanning through childhood and into adulthood. Exposure to violence is a known risk factor for depression (Fergusson, Boden, & Horwood, 2008; Lansford et al, 2002; Sternberg, Lamb, Guterman, & Abbot, 2006), conduct disorder (Fergusson et al, 2008; McCabe, Hough, Yeh, Lucchini, & Hazen, 2005; Sternberg et al, 2006; Weaver, Borkowski, & Whitman, 2008), aggression

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