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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., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Siu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Purpose : To develop a culturally-sensitive intervention for the early prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) in Uganda. Methods : Programme design followed the 6SQuID model of intervention development and multi-sectorial advice. A formative evaluation was conducted in two communities with six groups and 138 participants. Findings : Four familial predictors of GBV were identified as potentially malleable: poor parent–child attachment, harsh parenting, inequitable gendered socialization and parental conflict. A community-based parenting programme was developed to address them. Its programme theory incorporates Attachment Theory, the concept that positive behavioural control develops emotional control, and Social Learning Theory. Its rationale, structure and content are presented using the TIDieR checklist. A formative evaluation showed the programme to be widely acceptable, culturally appropriate, and perceived to be effective, but also identified challenges. Conclusion : The careful development of this community-based parenting programme shows promise for the early prevention of GBV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article Men's Involvement in a Parenting Programme to Reduce Child Maltreatment and Gender-Based Violence: Formative Evaluation in Uganda written by Godfrey E. Siu, Daniel Wight, Janet Seeley, Carolyn Namutebi, Richard Sekiwunga, Flavia Zalwango and Sarah Kasule was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 6 October 2017 without open access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]