Peer-reviewed article
Preventing violence against refugee adolescent girls: findings from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Ethiopia
Lindsay Stark, Khudejha Asghar, Ilana Seff, Gary Yu, Teame Tesfay Gessesse et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001A randomised controlled trial tested a life skills and safe spaces programme for 919 refugee adolescent girls aged 13-19 in Ethiopian camps to prevent interpersonal violence. The intervention consisted of 30 life skills sessions for girls and 8 complementary sessions for caregivers. While the programme did not significantly reduce sexual violence or other forms of violence, it improved girls' attitudes about rites of passage, identified social supports, and reduced reported child marriage among girls already married at baseline.
Key points
- The intervention was not significantly associated with reduction in sexual violence exposure (adjusted OR=0.96, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.57) at 12-month follow-up
- No significant improvements were found in physical violence, emotional violence, transactional sex, or feelings of safety
- The intervention improved attitudes around rites of passage and identified social supports among participants
- There was a decrease in reported child marriage among girls who were married at baseline
- The study involved 919 Sudanese and South Sudanese refugee girls divided into 31 clusters in Ethiopia
Limitations
The study does not explain why the intervention was ineffective at reducing actual violence experiences despite affecting some attitudes and social factors. It cannot determine whether longer-term effects occur beyond the 12-month follow-up period or how findings might apply to other refugee or humanitarian contexts.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Interpersonal violence is a critical public health concern in humanitarian contexts, but evidence of effective violence prevention programmes targeting adolescent girls is lacking. We investigated the efficacy of a life skills and safe spaces programme to reduce adolescent girls' experiences of interpersonal violence in a refugee setting. METHODS: In this two-arm, single-blinded, cluster randomised controlled trial, we recruited 919 Sudanese and South Sudanese girls ages 13-19 years residing in refugee camps in Ethiopia. Girls were divided into 31 clusters, with 457 and 462 participants assigned to the intervention and control arms, respectively. Intervention clusters received 30 life skills sessions delivered in safe spaces and 8 complementary sessions for caregivers. The primary outcome was exposure to sexual violence in the previous 12 months. Secondary outcomes included disaggregated forms of sexual violence, physical violence, emotional violence, transactional sex, child marriage, feelings of safety, attitudes around rites of passage and perceptions of social support. Intent-to-treat analysis was used. RESULTS: At 12-month follow-up, the intervention was not significantly associated with reduction in exposure to sexual violence (adjusted OR =0.96, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.57), other forms of violence, transactional sex or feelings of safety. The intervention was associated with improvements in attitudes around rites of passage and identified social supports. Additionally, the intervention showed a decrease in reported child marriage among girls who were married at baseline. CONCLUSION: While the intervention impacted key markers along the causal pathway to violence reduction, further research and programmatic adaptations are needed to prevent violence towards adolescents in humanitarian contexts. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02506543.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- 30 life skills sessions delivered in safe spaces for adolescent girls plus 8 complementary sessions for caregivers
- Population
- 919 Sudanese and South Sudanese refugee adolescent girls aged 13-19 years in refugee camps in Ethiopia
Key finding
Sexual violence exposure at 12 months: adjusted OR=0.96 (95% CI 0.59 to 1.57), not statistically significant
Stark et al. · OpenAlex · 1 Oct 2018