@article{ref1,
title="Girl Empower : a gender transformative mentoring and cash transfer intervention to promote adolescent wellbeing: impact findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Liberia",
journal="SSM - Population Health",
year="2020",
author="Özler, Berk and Hallman, Kelly and Guimond, Marie-France and Kelvin, Elizabeth A. and Rogers, Marian and Karnley, Esther",
volume="10",
number="",
pages="e100527-e100527",
abstract="BACKGROUND: We evaluated <i>Girl Empower</i> - an intervention that aimed to equip adolescent girls with the skills to make healthy, strategic life choices and to stay safe from sexual abuse using a cluster-randomized controlled trial with three arms: control, <i>Girl Empower</i> (GE), and GE+. <br><br>METHODS: GE delivered a life skills curriculum to girls aged 13-14 in Liberia, facilitated by local female mentors. In the GE + variation, a cash incentive payment was offered to caregivers for girls' participation in the program. We evaluated the impact of the program on seven pre-specified domains using standardized indices: sexual violence, schooling, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), psychosocial wellbeing, gender attitudes, life skills, and protective factors. <br><br>FINDINGS: Participation rates in the program were high in both GE and GE+, with the average participant attending 28 out of 32 sessions. At 24 months, the standardized effects of both GE and GE+, compared to control, on sexual violence, schooling, psychosocial wellbeing, and protective factors were small (β, ≤ 0.11 standard deviations [SD]) and not statistically significant at the 95% level of confidence. However, we found positive standardized effects on Gender Attitudes (GE: β, 0.206 SD, p<0.05; GE+: β, 0.228 SD, p<0.05), Life Skills (GE: β, 0.224 SD, p<0.05; GE+: β, 0.289 SD, p<0.01), and SRH (GE: β, 0.244 SD, p<0.01; GE+: β, 0.372 SD, p<0.01; F-test for GE = GE+: p = 0.075). <br><br>INTERPRETATION: <i>Girl Empower</i> led to sustained improvements in several important domains, including SRH, but did not reduce sexual violence among the target population.<br><br>© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2352-8273",
doi="10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100527",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100527"
}