TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Girl Empower : a gender transformative mentoring and cash transfer intervention to promote adolescent wellbeing: impact findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Liberia
JO  - SSM - Population Health
A1  - Özler, Berk
A1  - Hallman, Kelly
A1  - Guimond, Marie-France
A1  - Kelvin, Elizabeth A.
A1  - Rogers, Marian
A1  - Karnley, Esther
SP  - e100527
EP  - e100527
VL  - 10
IS  - 
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 2352-8273
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100527
ID  - ref1
ER  -