The Impact of the Parenting for Respectability Programme on Violent Parenting and Intimate Partner Relationships in Uganda: A Pre-post Study

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2024 May 24

PMID 38787892

Authors

Godfrey Siu

Rebecca N Nsubuga

Jamie M Lachman

Carol Namutebi

Richard Sekiwunga

Flavia Zalwango

Julie Riddell

Daniel Wight

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: There is a growing need for interventions that reduce both violence against children and intimate partner violence in low- and middle-income countries. However, few parenting interventions deliberately address this link. We tested the feasibility of a 16-session group-based parenting programme, Parenting for Respectability, in semi-rural Ugandan communities.

Methods: This was a pre-post study with parents and their children (N = 484 parents; 212 children).

Results: Pre-post comparisons found large effects for parent-reported reduced harsh parenting (Cohen's f2 = 0.41 overall; f2 = 0.47 (among session attendees); with an overall reduction of 26% for harsh parenting. Session attendees reported higher reductions than non-attendees (p = 0.014), and male caregivers reported higher reductions than female caregivers (p<0.001). Children also reported reduced harsh parenting by attending fathers (f2 = 0.64 overall; f2 = 0.60) and attending mothers (f2 = 0.56 overall; f2 = 0.51); with reduction in harsh parenting ranging between 27% to 29% in the various categories. Overall, spousal violence reduced by 27% (f2 = 0.19 overall; f2 = 0.26 (among session attendees). Both parents and children reported reduced dysfunctional parent relationships; parents: f2 = 0.19 overall; f2 = 0.26 (among session attendees); and children: f2 = 0.35 overall; f2 = 0.32 (for attending parents); with reductions ranging between 22% to 28%. Parents who attended more than 50% of the program reported greater effects on reduced dysfunctional relationships than those who attended less than half of the program (B = -0.74, p = 0.013). All secondary outcomes were improved with f2 ranging between 0.08 and 0.39; and improvements ranging between 6% and 28%.

Conclusion: Results suggest the importance of more rigorous testing to determine program effectiveness.

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