Impact of Microfinance and Participatory Gender Training for Women in Reducing Intimate Partner Violence (MAISHA)

• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02592252
• Recruitment Status: Unknown
• First Posted: October 30, 2015
• Last Update Posted: March 26, 2018
• Sponsor: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Collaborators: Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit; National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania; Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee; EngenderHealth
• Information provided by (Responsible Party): London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Study Description

Brief Summary:

Violence against women and girls is increasingly recognized as a major global public health and development concern. However, evidence on what forms of intervention should be prioritised is severely lacking. A cluster randomized controlled trial (The Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS & Gender Equity - IMAGE Project) in rural South Africa combined a group-based microfinance intervention with a participatory gender and HIV training curriculum for loan participants and showed that, over a two-year period, levels of physical and/or sexual partner violence experienced by participants in the past year were reduced by 55%.

The overall goal of the current study is to design and implement a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact on intimate partner violence of: 1) combining participatory gender training with microfinance for women in existing microfinance loan groups, and 2) a participatory gender training programme for women (not receiving microfinance) and their male partners.

Condition or disease	Intervention/treatment	Phase
Maltreatment by Spouse or Partner	Behavioral: Participatory gender training; Other: Microfinance	Not Applicable

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional (Clinical Trial)
• Estimated Enrollment: 2640 participants
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)
• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Official Title: Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial to Assess the Impact of Combined Microfinance and Gender Training for Women and Gender Training for Women and Their Male Partners in Reducing Intimate Partner Violence
• Actual Study Start Date: September 2014
• Estimated Primary Completion Date: July 2019
• Estimated Study Completion Date: December 2019

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/treatment
Experimental: Microfinance + gender training; Microfinance + 10 sessions of participatory gender training	Behavioral: Participatory gender training; 10 sessions of participatory gender training; Other: Microfinance; Microfinance loan
Experimental: Microfinance only; Receive microfinance only	Other: Microfinance; Microfinance loan
Experimental: Gender training only; 10 sessions of participatory gender training for women and their male partners	Behavioral: Participatory gender training; 10 sessions of participatory gender training
No Intervention: No intervention; No microfinance or participatory gender training

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures :

1. Past 12 months exposure to intimate partner violence [ Time Frame: 24 months post-intervention ]
   Exposure to intimate partner violence will be assessed using the WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women questionnaire

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 Years to 50 Years (Adult)
• Sexes Eligible for Study: Female
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Arms 1 and 2 - microfinance loan groups:

1. there are between 15 and 30 active members in the group
2. less than 25% of the women have been members for less than one year
3. there is a good attendance (repayment) record
4. a minimum of 70% of active members consent to take part in the study

Arms 3 and 4, women who:

1. are aged 20-50 years
2. are not formally employed, i.e. either self-employed or not currently working
3. have been resident in Mwanza for at least two years
4. have not been a member of a microfinance loan group in the past 12 months
5. are fluent in Swahili
6. have consented to take part in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

None

Contacts and Locations

Contacts

Contact: Sheila E Harvey, Ph.D; +44 (0)207 612 7854; sheila.harvey@lshtm.ac.uk

Contact: Shelley Lees, Ph.D; 44 (0)207 327 2586; shelley.lees@lshtm.ac.uk

Locations

Tanzania

Mawanza Intervention Trials Unit; Recruiting

Mwanza, Tanzania

Contact: Sheila E Harvey, Ph.D +44 (0)20 612 7854 sheila.harvey@lshtm.ac.uk

Contact: Shelley Lees, Ph.D +44 (0)20 7327 2586 shelley.lees@lshtm.ac.uk

Principal Investigator: Charlotte Watts, Ph.D

Principal Investigator: Saidi Kapiga, MD

Principal Investigator: Shelley Lees, Ph.D

Principal Investigator: Gerry Mshana, Ph.D

Sponsors and Collaborators

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit

National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania

Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee

EngenderHealth

More Information

Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):

Harvey S, Abramsky T, Mshana G, Hansen CH, Mtolela GJ, Madaha F, Hashim R, Kapinga I, Watts C, Lees S, Kapiga S. A cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a gender transformative intervention on intimate partner violence against women in newly formed neighbourhood groups in Tanzania. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Jul;6(7). pii: e004555. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004555.

Kapiga S, Harvey S, Mshana G, Hansen CH, Mtolela GJ, Madaha F, Hashim R, Kapinga I, Mosha N, Abramsky T, Lees S, Watts C. A social empowerment intervention to prevent intimate partner violence against women in a microfinance scheme in Tanzania: findings from the MAISHA cluster randomised controlled trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2019 Oct;7(10):e1423-e1434. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30316-X.

Abramsky T, Lees S, Stöckl H, Harvey S, Kapinga I, Ranganathan M, Mshana G, Kapiga S. Women's income and risk of intimate partner violence: secondary findings from the MAISHA cluster randomised trial in North-Western Tanzania. BMC Public Health. 2019 Aug 14;19(1):1108. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7454-1.

Harvey S, Lees S, Mshana G, Pilger D, Hansen C, Kapiga S, Watts C. A cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact on intimate partner violence of a 10-session participatory gender training curriculum delivered to women taking part in a group-based microfinance loan scheme in Tanzania (MAISHA CRT01): study protocol. BMC Womens Health. 2018 Apr 2;18(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s12905-018-0546-8.

Kapiga S, Harvey S, Muhammad AK, Stöckl H, Mshana G, Hashim R, Hansen C, Lees S, Watts C. Prevalence of intimate partner violence and abuse and associated factors among women enrolled into a cluster randomised trial in northwestern Tanzania. BMC Public Health. 2017 Feb 14;17(1):190. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4119-9.

• Responsible Party: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02592252
• Other Study ID Numbers: QA430
• First Posted: October 30, 2015
• Last Update Posted: March 26, 2018
• Last Verified: March 2018