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Background Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an urgent global health problem. Root causes for VAWG include the individual- and family-level factors of alcohol abuse, mental health problems, violence exposure, and related adverse experiences. Few studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have assessed the effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing VAWG. This randomized controlled trial, part of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls consortium, examines the effectiveness of a common elements treatment approach (CETA) for reducing VAWG and comorbid alcohol abuse among families in Zambia. Methods/design Study participants are families consisting of three persons: an adult woman, her male husband or partner, and one of her children aged 8–17 (if available). Eligibility criteria include experience of moderate-to-severe intimate partner violence by the woman and hazardous alcohol use by her male partner. Family units are randomized to receive CETA or treatment as usual. The primary outcome is VAWG as measured by the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale, assessed along with secondary outcomes at 24 months post-baseline. Interim assessments are also conducted at 4–5 months (following CETA completion) and 12 months post-baseline. Conclusions This ongoing trial is one of the first in sub-Saharan Africa to evaluate the use of an evidence-based common elements approach for reducing VAWG by targeting a range of individual- and family-level factors, including alcohol abuse. Results of this trial will inform policy on what interventions work to prevent VAWG in LMIC with local perspectives on scale up and wider implementation.

Background : Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. Numerous studies have demonstrated genetic variation associated with the development of PTSD, primarily in adults. However, the contribution of low frequency and rare genetic variants to PTSD is unknown to date. Moreover, there is limited work on genetic risk for PTSD in child and adolescent populations. Objective : This preliminary study aimed to identify the low frequency and rare genetic variation that contributes to PTSD using an exome array. Method : This post-disaster, adolescent sample (n = 707, 51% females, M age = 14.54) was assessed for PTSD diagnosis and symptom count following tornado exposure. Results : Gene-based models, covarying for ancestry principal components, age, sex, tornado severity, and previous trauma identified variants in four genes associated with diagnosis and 276 genes associated with symptom count (at p adj < .001). Functional class analyses suggested an association with variants in the nonsense class (nonsynonymous variant that results in truncation of, and usually non-functional, protein) with both outcomes. An exploratory gene network pathway analysis showed a great number of significant genes involved in brain and immune function, illustrating the usefulness of downstream examination of gene-based findings that may point to relevant biological processes. Conclusions : While further investigation in larger samples is warranted, findings align with extant PTSD literature that has identified variants associated with biological conditions such as immune function., (© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)