Prevention of Violence Against Children

University of Konstanz

Status: Completed

Conditions: Violence Against Children

Treatments: Behavioral: Interaction Competencies with children - for teachers

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03051854

ICC-T-2017-Uganda

Details and patient eligibility

About

Beside the home, the school is often the second important setting for the development and education of children and adolescents. Students spend a large part of their life at school. However, there is recurrent occurrence of violence against children and of harsh discipline measures used in home and school settings. These may result into negative consequences. Hence, prevention strategies against the use of harsh discipline use in schools become a priority.

In the baseline of this study the investigators will therefore examine the prevalence and consequences of violence against children in Southwestern Uganda. The study will be conducted in schools and common disciplinary measures used by teachers, and the perceptions of teachers' and students' in relation to commonly used and experienced disciplinary measures we will be investigated.

In the second phase, the investigators then will implement and assess the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at reducing the use of harsh and violent disciplinary measures in schools. ICC-T training in the long-term aims at fostering better relations amongst students and teachers. Based on feasibility studies, ICC-T intervention is expected to result into better teacher-student relationships, change in teachers' attitudes and behaviors concerning the use of violent disciplinary measures in the school setting.

Full description

Study participants (i.e., teachers and students) will be recruited from six districts in southwestern Uganda. The sample will include 12 government-aided secondary schools from which 60 students and 15-25 teachers will be recruited. The final sample will have 720 students and 180-300 teachers. Investigators will assess data in the baseline (i.e., prior to intervention) and three months after the intervention.

Study measures will cover the following topics: socio-demographic data, common disciplinary measure used at home and at school, students' mental health problems, students' and teachers' attitudes towards violent discipline measures, and students' exposure to peer and sexual violence. Questionnaire for teachers will have additional items that measure attitudes towards teaching and teacher stress. Additionally, the investigators will also assess the demand, acceptance and feasibility of the training.

Enrollment: 720 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 12 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

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

Exclusion criteria

• Acute drug or alcohol intoxication
• Acute psychotic disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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720 participants in 2 patient groups

ICC-T

Experimental group

Description:

Intervention: Interaction 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

Treatment:

Behavioral: Interaction Competencies with children - for teachers

Control schools

No Intervention group

Description:

The control school do not receive any intervention.