@article{ref1,
title="Effective prevention of intimate partner violence through couples training: a  randomised controlled trial of Indashyikirwa in Rwanda",
journal="BMJ global health",
year="2020",
author="Dunkle, Kristin and Stern, Erin and Chatterji, Sangeeta and Heise, Lori",
volume="5",
number="12",
pages="e2439-e2439",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Between 2015 and 2018, three civil society organisations in Rwanda  implemented Indashyikirwa, a four-part intervention designed to reduce intimate  partner violence (IPV) among couples and within communities. We assessed the impact  of the programme's gender transformative curriculum for couples. <br><br>METHODS: Sectors  (n=28) were purposively selected based on density of village savings and loan  association (VLSA) groups and randomised (with stratification by district) to either  the full community-level Indashyikirwa programme (n=14) or VSLA-only control (n=14). Within each sector, 60 couples recruited from VSLAs received either a 21-session  curriculum or VSLA as usual. No blinding was attempted. Primary outcomes were  perpetration (for men) or experience (for women) of past-year physical/sexual IPV at  24 months post-baseline, hypothesised to be reduced in intervention versus control  (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03477877). <br><br>RESULTS: We enrolled 828 women and 821 men in the  intervention sectors and 832 women and 830 men in the control sectors; at endline,  815 women (98.4%) and 763 men (92.9%) in the intervention and 802 women (96.4%) and  773 men (93.1%) were available for intention-to-treat analysis. Women in the  intervention compared with control were less likely to report physical and/or sexual  IPV at 24 months (adjusted relative risk (aRR)=0.44, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.59). Men in  the intervention compared with control were also significantly less likely to report  perpetration of physical and/or sexual IPV at 24 months (aRR=0.54, 95% CI 0.38 to  0.75). Additional intervention benefits included reductions in acceptability of wife  beating, conflict with partner, depression, and corporal punishment against children  and improved conflict management, communication, trust, self-efficacy, self-rated  health, household earnings, food security and actions to prevent IPV. There were no  study-related harms. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The Indashyikirwa couples' training curriculum was  highly effective in reducing IPV among male/female couples in rural Rwanda. Scale-up  and adaptation to similar settings should be considered.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2059-7908",
doi="10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002439",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002439"
}