Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)NCT06916377
The Economics of Domestic Violence: Evidence From Bangladesh
A study testing Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills in people with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention, run by Yale University at 1 site in Bangladesh.
Trial summary
This project aims to test the scalability and cost-effectiveness of edutainment-soap operas designed to challenge harmful social norms and promote resilience-as a strategy to improve mental health and reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Bangladesh. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), Intimate Partner Violence Prevention
- What is being tested?
- Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
- How many people
- 440 participants
- Where
- 1 siteBangladesh
- Study dates
- 19 Sep 2023to Dec 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- married men and women over the legal age of majority in Bangladesh
Who cannot join
- No exclusion criteria were imposed.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
This project aims to test the scalability and cost-effectiveness of edutainment-soap operas designed to challenge harmful social norms and promote resilience-as a strategy to improve mental health and reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Bangladesh. Investigators will run a clustered randomized control trial in which villages will be randomized to one of three versions of the same soap opera: (i) Norms: Challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation, (ii) Norms + Skills: builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution, (iii) Placebo: No violence content. Investigators will evaluate the impact on attitudes towards IPV and IPV incidence.
Read the detailed description
Study design features two layers of commuity-level randomization based on a 3x2 factorial design:
First Treatment Variation: Edutainment Content. Communities are randomized into one of three versions of the same soap opera:
- Norms Campaign (176 communities): Challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation.
- Norms + Skills Campaign (176 communities): Builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution.
- Placebo Campaign (88 communities): Features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging.
This variation allows for assessing the impact of addressing harmful norms alone from the additional benefits of equipping men with practical coping skills. By comparing the Norms Campaign to the Norms + Skills Campaign, investigators test whether adding stress-coping skills yields additional reductions in IPV and related outcomes.
Second Treatment Variation: Delivery Modes. Fifty percent of communities in each treatment arm are randomized into one of two delivery modes:
- Private Delivery: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices.
- Public Delivery: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings.
Randomizing delivery modes enables investigators to assess whether men's responses to the intervention are driven by self-esteem concerns (private delivery) or reputation concerns (public delivery). This distinction provides critical insights into the mechanisms underlying IPV and informs the scalability of different delivery methods.
In addition to the community-level randomizations, 50 percent of men in each community are randomized into participation in a cash-for-work program. This individual-level randomization allows us to evaluate the role of economic strain in IPV outcomes, testing whether alleviating financial stress enhances the intervention's effectiveness.
- Being tested
- Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills, Edutainment Content: Placebo Campaign
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Edutainment Content: Norms CampaignBehavioural
Soap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skillsBehavioural
CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution.
Edutainment Content: Placebo CampaignBehavioural
Soap opera that features unrelated non-violent content
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Norms with Private Delivery | Experimental | Soap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign |
| Norms + Skills with Private Delivery | Experimental | Soap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign; Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills |
| Placebo with Private Delivery | Experimental | Soap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging.
Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo Campaign |
| Norms with Public Delivery | Experimental | Soap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign |
| Norms + Skills with Public Delivery | Experimental | Soap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign; Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills |
| Placebo with Public Delivery | Experimental | Soap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging.
Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo Campaign |
| Norms with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Soap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices.
Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign |
| Norms + Skills with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Soap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices.
Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign; Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills |
| Placebo with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Soap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging.
Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices.
Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo Campaign |
| Norms with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Soap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings.
Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign |
| Norms + Skills with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Soap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings.
Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign; Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills |
| Placebo with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Soap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging.
Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings.
Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. Receives: Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo Campaign |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to assess Acceptability of IPV
Standardized attitudinal questions from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), which capture whether violence is considered justified in specific situations to measure changes in husbands' personal attitudes towards IPV. Measured by the average score on a justification index across treatments. This index is a normalized index of how justified men think it is for a husband to use IPV.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Hypothetical vignettes to assess Acceptability of IPV
Hypothetical vignettes, where respondents evaluate the likely and socially acceptable behavior of a hypothetical husband whose wife transgressed a gender norm. These vignettes mitigate social desirability bias and improve the accuracy of responses on sensitive topics to measure changes in husbands' personal attitudes towards IPV. Measured by the average level of violence respondents across treatments believe hypothetical husband will and should assign if the hypothetical wife transgresses. The scale will be between 0 and 5.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Hypothetical vignettes to assess Perceptions about others' acceptability of IPV.
Husbands' perceptions about others' attitudes towards IPV were measured using the hypothetical vignettes. Respondents estimate the attitudes of the other surveyed men in their community using visual aids and stickers, each representing a different respondent.
Hypothetical vignettes, where respondents evaluate the likely and socially acceptable behavior of a hypothetical husband whose wife transgressed a gender norm. These vignettes mitigate social desirability bias and improve the accuracy of responses on sensitive topics to measure changes in husbands' personal attitudes towards IPV. This will be measured by the average level of violence respondents across treatments believe other men in their community will assign if the hypothetical wife transgresses. The scale will be between 0 and 5.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Use of coping strategies to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Men's coping and emotional self-regulation strategies are measured using an index constructed from responses provided by their wives. This index includes selected questions on men's approaches to conflict management from the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, adapted items from the Bengali version of the Brief Resilient Coping Scale that capture spouses' perceptions of men's behavior, and measures of substance use. IPV-related questions are intentionally excluded, as these behaviors represent a distinct conceptual category measured separately. To simplify interpretation, the index is standardized relative to the control group by subtracting the control group's mean and dividing by its standard deviation. Consequently, the resulting index has a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one within the control group. Higher values of the index indicate more positive coping styles and better emotional regulation.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Husbands' self-reported symptoms of depression measured using the PHQ-9 scale. PHQ-9 is a 9-item validated questionnaire used to screen for depression with a range of scores from 0-45. A cumulative score of ≥10 is considered positive with lower scores indicating no or mild anxiety.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Stressors and experiences to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Husbands' open-ended responses on daily stressors and positive experiences to measure husbands' resilience and emotional well-being. A summary index with two subcomponents is developed. First, a sub-index of daily events using an adapted version of the Daily Hassles and Uplifts Scale that includes items relevant to our target population. Second, a sub-index that aggregates men's appraisal of stressors and is based on the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale validated in Bangladesh. Each subcomponent is standardized to have a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one for the control group. The summary index is defined as the equally weighted average of these standardized sub-indexes, with signs oriented so that higher values consistently indicate more favorable outcomes (fewer stressors and/or lower perceived stress).
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Biometric stress indicators to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Biometric stress indicators, captured by Empatica E4 wristbands during sensitive survey modules, measuring physiological markers of emotional regulation and stress to measure husbands' resilience and emotional well-being. Specifically, electrodermal activity (EDA) data, expressed in microsiemens (μS), is used to analyze Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs). SCRs are quantified using a trough-to-peak (TTP) analysis, where the amplitude of each response is measured as the difference between the peak and the preceding trough within a defined time window. To identify event-related SCRs, a response window of 1 to 5 seconds following a stimulus is applied, with a minimum amplitude threshold of 0.01 μS to detect significant responses. The primary outcome variable is the sum of SCR amplitudes for significant responses. The average sum of SCR amplitudes across treatment groups is compared to assess differences in physiological stress responses.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Adapted version of the DHS to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
An adapted version of the DHS, covering physical, psychological, financial, and sexual violence. To enhance privacy and reduce misreporting, women use visual response tools to answer these questions privately to measure women's experiences of IPV. Measured by the average of a standardized IPV index. This is a normalized index which captures the frequency (never, very few times, sometimes, or very often) of women's reported experiences of IPV in the past six months. Higher values indicate higher frequency of IPV.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Number of participants with IPV-related injuries to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Enumerators' reports of visible IPV-related injuries, such as bruises, documented using a standardized reporting protocol. Enumerators receive specialized training to identify and record signs of physical violence, with a focus on facial bruises and scratches, which remain visible even for veiled women to measure women's experiences of IPV.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Health assessments to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Health assessments by community health workers, who check for IPV-related injuries to measure women's experiences of IPV. Measured by the percentage of female respondents across treatments on whom community health workers identify IPV-related injuries.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Incidence of IPV to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Women's self-reports of IPV through rolling phone surveys six to twelve months post-intervention.
Measured by the average of a standardized IPV index. This is a normalized index which captures the frequency (never, very few times, sometimes, or very often) of women's reported experiences of IPV in the past six months.
Measured: Baseline and 6-12 months post intervention
Secondary outcomes (5)
Respectable man scale to assess Men's self-esteem.
Husbands' reports of the likelihood that they are a "respectable man". Investigators constructed the respectable man scale using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Husbands answer ten embedded questions throughout the survey that contribute to their respectable man score. At the end of the interview, investigators inform men that the top five scorers in the community are considered "respectable men," but we do not reveal their actual scores to them. Husbands indicate how confident they are that they rank among the top five in their community. Measured by the mean likelihood that men across treatments think they rank among the top five respectable men in their community. The scale will be between 0 and 100.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Perceived respectabillity to assess Men's reputation
Husbands' perceived probability that two randomly selected community members would consider them respectable, elicited using an identical ten-bean method. To reduce misreporting, husbands receive financial incentives based on the accuracy of their estimates. Measured by the mean likelihood that men across treatments think others rank them among the top five respectable men in their community. The scale will be between 0 and 100.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Cost-effectiveness of the edutainment campaigns assessed by Reduction to IPV exposure
Reduction in the number of women exposed to IPV or the intensity of IPV in the last six months per USD 1,000.
Multiply the observed reduction in IPV (either in absolute prevalence or an intensity index) caused by each edutainment campaign by the total number of men assigned to that campaign. Investigators will calculate costs by summing both start-up and implementation costs. Start-up costs include intervention development (content production and pilot testing), adaptation (translation and cultural adjustments), and set-up (community engagement and facilitator training). Implementation costs include broadcasting and screening expenses, facilitator compensation, and routine monitoring and evaluation. Research-related expenditures will be excluded and only include costs related to activities expected at scale.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Cost-effectiveness of the edutainment campaigns assessed by benefit-to-cost ratio
Benefit-to-cost ratio calculated by dividing the estimated benefits from reduced IPV by the total costs of intervention delivery. To estimate the benefits of IPV reduction, investigators will use the treatment effects on income and a web-based cost benefit analysis tool developed by one of the Principal Investigators. This tool calculates the lifetime economic returns to increased income.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Cost-effectiveness of the edutainment campaigns assessed by benefit-to-cost ratio
Net present value calculated as the difference in discounted benefits and costs. To estimate the benefits of IPV reduction, investigators will use the treatment effects on income and a web-based cost-benefit analysis tool developed by one of the Principal Investigators. This tool calculates the lifetime economic returns to increased income. The unit of measure for NPV is 1000 USD.
Measured: 1 month post intervention
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted8 Apr 2025
- Study start19 Sep 2023
- Primary completionDec 2025 (estimated)
- Study completionDec 2025 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)Studies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Yale UniversityThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Factorial
- Model description
- Treatment assignment was stratified at the union level, the smallest administrative rural unit. From the two districts combined, a total of 88 unions were selected using Probability Proportional to Size (PPS). Each union contained 5 clusters (villages), yielding a total of 440 clusters. In each village, investigators randomly sampled 20 married couples aged 18-65, yielding a total of 8,800 married couples.
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 440 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Yale University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Grand Challenges Canada, Weiss Foundation, World Bank - Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), Fund for Innovation in Development, USAID Development Innovation Ventures, The Agency Fund, International Growth Centre (IGC), National Science Foundation
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Nina Buchmann, PhD, Principal investigator, Yale University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06916377
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2000026184
- Status last verified
- Mar 2025
- First submitted
- 31 Mar 2025
- Last updated
- 8 Apr 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 8 Apr 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Economics of Domestic Violence: Evidence From Bangladesh
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06916377
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2000026184
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 440 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Yale UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Grand Challenges Canada, Weiss Foundation, World Bank - Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), Fund for Innovation in Development, USAID Development Innovation Ventures, The Agency Fund, International Growth Centre (IGC), National Science Foundation
- Study start
- 19 Sep 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Dec 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Dec 2025 (estimated)
- First posted
- 8 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This project aims to test the scalability and cost-effectiveness of edutainment-soap operas designed to challenge harmful social norms and promote resilience-as a strategy to improve mental health and reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Bangladesh. Investigators will run a clustered randomized control trial in which villages will be randomized to one of three versions of the same soap opera: (i) Norms: Challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation, (ii) Norms + Skills: builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution, (iii) Placebo: No violence content. Investigators will evaluate the impact on attitudes towards IPV and IPV incidence.
Detailed description
Study design features two layers of commuity-level randomization based on a 3x2 factorial design:
First Treatment Variation: Edutainment Content. Communities are randomized into one of three versions of the same soap opera:
- Norms Campaign (176 communities): Challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation.
- Norms + Skills Campaign (176 communities): Builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution.
- Placebo Campaign (88 communities): Features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging.
This variation allows for assessing the impact of addressing harmful norms alone from the additional benefits of equipping men with practical coping skills. By comparing the Norms Campaign to the Norms + Skills Campaign, investigators test whether adding stress-coping skills yields additional reductions in IPV and related outcomes.
Second Treatment Variation: Delivery Modes. Fifty percent of communities in each treatment arm are randomized into one of two delivery modes:
- Private Delivery: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices.
- Public Delivery: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings.
Randomizing delivery modes enables investigators to assess whether men's responses to the intervention are driven by self-esteem concerns (private delivery) or reputation concerns (public delivery). This distinction provides critical insights into the mechanisms underlying IPV and informs the scalability of different delivery methods.
In addition to the community-level randomizations, 50 percent of men in each community are randomized into participation in a cash-for-work program. This individual-level randomization allows us to evaluate the role of economic strain in IPV outcomes, testing whether alleviating financial stress enhances the intervention's effectiveness.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Factorial
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 12
- Model description
- Treatment assignment was stratified at the union level, the smallest administrative rural unit. From the two districts combined, a total of 88 unions were selected using Probability Proportional to Size (PPS). Each union contained 5 clusters (villages), yielding a total of 440 clusters. In each village, investigators randomly sampled 20 married couples aged 18-65, yielding a total of 8,800 married couples.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Norms with Private Delivery | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms CampaignSoap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. |
| Norms + Skills with Private Delivery | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign, Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skillsSoap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. |
| Placebo with Private Delivery | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo CampaignSoap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging. Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. |
| Norms with Public Delivery | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms CampaignSoap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. |
| Norms + Skills with Public Delivery | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign, Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skillsSoap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. |
| Placebo with Public Delivery | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo CampaignSoap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging. Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. |
| Norms with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms CampaignSoap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. |
| Norms + Skills with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign, Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skillsSoap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. |
| Placebo with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo CampaignSoap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging. Private Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera privately at home on handheld devices. Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. |
| Norms with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms CampaignSoap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. |
| Norms + Skills with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign, Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skillsSoap opera that builds on the norms campaign by adding CBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. |
| Placebo with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program | Experimental | Behavioral: Edutainment Content: Placebo CampaignSoap opera that features unrelated content to serve as a control group, isolating the effects of norms and resiliency messaging. Public Delivery Mode: Men watch the soap opera publicly through community screenings. Cash-for-Work: Small weekly payments for viewing and providing feedback on the media content. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- married men and women over the legal age of majority in Bangladesh
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- No exclusion criteria were imposed.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Edutainment Content: Norms CampaignSoap opera that challenges harmful norms that condone IPV, targeting the belief that violence is an acceptable way to assert control or maintain reputation. | Behavioural | Norms + Skills with Private Delivery, Norms + Skills with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program, Norms + Skills with Public Delivery, Norms + Skills with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program, Norms with Private Delivery, Norms with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program, Norms with Public Delivery, Norms with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skillsCBT-based skills for stress management and non-violent conflict resolution. | Behavioural | Norms + Skills with Private Delivery, Norms + Skills with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program, Norms + Skills with Public Delivery, Norms + Skills with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program |
| Edutainment Content: Placebo CampaignSoap opera that features unrelated non-violent content | Behavioural | Placebo with Private Delivery, Placebo with Private Delivery and Cash-for-Work program, Placebo with Public Delivery, Placebo with Public Delivery and Cash-for-Work program |
Primary outcome
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to assess Acceptability of IPV
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Standardized attitudinal questions from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), which capture whether violence is considered justified in specific situations to measure changes in husbands' personal attitudes towards IPV. Measured by the average score on a justification index across treatments. This index is a normalized index of how justified men think it is for a husband to use IPV.
Hypothetical vignettes to assess Acceptability of IPV
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Hypothetical vignettes, where respondents evaluate the likely and socially acceptable behavior of a hypothetical husband whose wife transgressed a gender norm. These vignettes mitigate social desirability bias and improve the accuracy of responses on sensitive topics to measure changes in husbands' personal attitudes towards IPV. Measured by the average level of violence respondents across treatments believe hypothetical husband will and should assign if the hypothetical wife transgresses. The scale will be between 0 and 5.
Hypothetical vignettes to assess Perceptions about others' acceptability of IPV.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Husbands' perceptions about others' attitudes towards IPV were measured using the hypothetical vignettes. Respondents estimate the attitudes of the other surveyed men in their community using visual aids and stickers, each representing a different respondent. Hypothetical vignettes, where respondents evaluate the likely and socially acceptable behavior of a hypothetical husband whose wife transgressed a gender norm. These vignettes mitigate social desirability bias and improve the accuracy of responses on sensitive topics to measure changes in husbands' personal attitudes towards IPV. This will be measured by the average level of violence respondents across treatments believe other men in their community will assign if the hypothetical wife transgresses. The scale will be between 0 and 5.
Use of coping strategies to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Men's coping and emotional self-regulation strategies are measured using an index constructed from responses provided by their wives. This index includes selected questions on men's approaches to conflict management from the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, adapted items from the Bengali version of the Brief Resilient Coping Scale that capture spouses' perceptions of men's behavior, and measures of substance use. IPV-related questions are intentionally excluded, as these behaviors represent a distinct conceptual category measured separately. To simplify interpretation, the index is standardized relative to the control group by subtracting the control group's mean and dividing by its standard deviation. Consequently, the resulting index has a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one within the control group. Higher values of the index indicate more positive coping styles and better emotional regulation.
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Husbands' self-reported symptoms of depression measured using the PHQ-9 scale. PHQ-9 is a 9-item validated questionnaire used to screen for depression with a range of scores from 0-45. A cumulative score of ≥10 is considered positive with lower scores indicating no or mild anxiety.
Stressors and experiences to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Husbands' open-ended responses on daily stressors and positive experiences to measure husbands' resilience and emotional well-being. A summary index with two subcomponents is developed. First, a sub-index of daily events using an adapted version of the Daily Hassles and Uplifts Scale that includes items relevant to our target population. Second, a sub-index that aggregates men's appraisal of stressors and is based on the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale validated in Bangladesh. Each subcomponent is standardized to have a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one for the control group. The summary index is defined as the equally weighted average of these standardized sub-indexes, with signs oriented so that higher values consistently indicate more favorable outcomes (fewer stressors and/or lower perceived stress).
Biometric stress indicators to assess Men's resilience and mental health.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Biometric stress indicators, captured by Empatica E4 wristbands during sensitive survey modules, measuring physiological markers of emotional regulation and stress to measure husbands' resilience and emotional well-being. Specifically, electrodermal activity (EDA) data, expressed in microsiemens (μS), is used to analyze Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs). SCRs are quantified using a trough-to-peak (TTP) analysis, where the amplitude of each response is measured as the difference between the peak and the preceding trough within a defined time window. To identify event-related SCRs, a response window of 1 to 5 seconds following a stimulus is applied, with a minimum amplitude threshold of 0.01 μS to detect significant responses. The primary outcome variable is the sum of SCR amplitudes for significant responses. The average sum of SCR amplitudes across treatment groups is compared to assess differences in physiological stress responses.
Adapted version of the DHS to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
An adapted version of the DHS, covering physical, psychological, financial, and sexual violence. To enhance privacy and reduce misreporting, women use visual response tools to answer these questions privately to measure women's experiences of IPV. Measured by the average of a standardized IPV index. This is a normalized index which captures the frequency (never, very few times, sometimes, or very often) of women's reported experiences of IPV in the past six months. Higher values indicate higher frequency of IPV.
Number of participants with IPV-related injuries to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Enumerators' reports of visible IPV-related injuries, such as bruises, documented using a standardized reporting protocol. Enumerators receive specialized training to identify and record signs of physical violence, with a focus on facial bruises and scratches, which remain visible even for veiled women to measure women's experiences of IPV.
Health assessments to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Health assessments by community health workers, who check for IPV-related injuries to measure women's experiences of IPV. Measured by the percentage of female respondents across treatments on whom community health workers identify IPV-related injuries.
Incidence of IPV to assess Prevalence and frequency of IPV.
Time frame: Baseline and 6-12 months post intervention
Women's self-reports of IPV through rolling phone surveys six to twelve months post-intervention. Measured by the average of a standardized IPV index. This is a normalized index which captures the frequency (never, very few times, sometimes, or very often) of women's reported experiences of IPV in the past six months.
5 secondary outcomes
Respectable man scale to assess Men's self-esteem.
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Perceived respectabillity to assess Men's reputation
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Cost-effectiveness of the edutainment campaigns assessed by Reduction to IPV exposure
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Cost-effectiveness of the edutainment campaigns assessed by benefit-to-cost ratio
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Cost-effectiveness of the edutainment campaigns assessed by benefit-to-cost ratio
Time frame: 1 month post intervention
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 8 Apr 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Nina Buchmann, PhD principal investigator
Yale University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Edutainment Content: Norms Campaign and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based skills in people with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention, run by Yale University at 1 site in Bangladesh.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 8 Apr 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Bangladesh. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to assess Acceptability of IPV (time frame: 1 month post intervention). The study lists 11 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 8 Apr 2025.