Shifting Norms, Preventing Violence

Shifting Norms,
Preventing Violence

Top-level findings

Fathers and husbands were less likely to engage in some types of IPV.
Men’s and women’s attitudes related to justifications for IPV changed.
Fathers were less likely to engage in harsh punishment and violent discipline of children, and parents used new strategies to correct their children’s behavior.
Teasing and physical abuse among children decreased following program implementation.

Shifting Norms,
Preventing Violence

Interventions that addressed IPV, violent discipline of children, and child bullying behaviors

REAL FATHERS

Responsible, Engaged, and Loving (REAL) Fathers is a community-based mentorship program that works with young fathers in two regions of Uganda to promote skills and behaviors that reduce IPV and violent discipline of children and improve family planning use.

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MASCULINITE, FAMILLE ET FOI

Masculinité, Famille et Foi (MFF) works with faith leaders and gender champions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to increase the use of modern family planning methods and reduce IPV among newly married couples and first-time parents.

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GROWING UP GREAT!

Growing Up GREAT! (GUG!) works with very young adolescents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with their parents, caregivers, teachers, and health providers, to improve their reproductive health and well-being; increase gender-equitable behaviors in parenting, including mitigating violent discipline of children; increase health services access; and reduce bullying among youth.

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Shifting Norms,
Preventing Violence

Which norms mattered?

Passages conducted an exploration of social norms to identify and prioritize norms for each of the interventions. Across Passages interventions, the norms listed below emerged as key to violence and violence prevention.

It’s important for men and women to take care of their families.

Men and women—and boys and girls—have different roles and responsibilities, such as chores, within households.

In some circumstances, violence against women and children is considered justifiable or necessary.

Engaging in violence is part of boyhood and manhood.

Violence within the family is a private matter.

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For more norms—and behaviors and attitudes—related to IPV and violent discipline of children, see the Social Norms Learning Collaborative’s Social Norms Atlas.

View Atlas

Common strategies used to shift social norms to prevent IPV, violent discipline of children, and child bullying.

The Passages interventions’ program strategies are intentionally designed to lead to norms-shifting in communities as part of behavior change. Each of the interventions sought to shift norms as part of a multi-level, multi-component social and behavior change approach that also addressed other factors. The following strategies were integral to shifting social norms across interventions.

Supporting interpersonal dialogue and reflection on beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Fostering positive role models.
Encouraging social mobilization to promote shifts in beliefs and norms and new behaviors.
Promoting collective celebration, pledges, and testimonials.

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For more information, the Passages Theory of Change lays out how norms-shifting approaches are part of our pathway to change.

View Theory of Change

Shifting Norms,
Preventing Violence

Results

Evaluation results from REAL Fathers; Growing Up GREAT!; and Masculinité, Famille et Foi point to reductions in violent behaviors and changes in the broader normative environment, some of which could help reduce future violence.

INTIMATE PARTNER
VIOLENCE

MASCULINITE, FAMILLE ET FOI

Attitudes and justifications of IPV shifted in MFF intervention groups.

Intervention group respondents were significantly more likely than men in comparison groups to believe that God created men and women as equals, and significantly more likely at endline (+18%) to agree with this statement than at baseline.
The percentage of men justifying a husband using violence in certain situations—including if a wife independently used modern family planning methods—decreased significantly from baseline (28.1%) to endline (14.6%) for intervention respondents, in contrast to the comparison group, where there was no such drop.

MASCULINITE, FAMILLE ET FOI

MFF endline data suggest that perceived approval of IPV among important reference groups decreased in both groups.

Intervention respondents were significantly less likely (1%) than comparison respondents (3.1%) to perceive that faith leaders or those whose opinions mattered to them would approve of IPV.

REAL FATHERS

REAL Fathers were around three times as likely not to engage in IPV as control fathers one year after the intervention.

One year after the intervention, northern Uganda REAL Fathers were nearly three times (OR=2.9) as likely not to engage in IPV as control fathers, and Karamoja REAL Fathers were over three times (OR=3.20) as likely not to engage in IPV as control fathers.

REAL FATHERS

REAL Fathers reported drinking less alcohol after the intervention.

Decreased alcohol consumption was associated with a reported reduction in domestic violence and disagreements among couples, and with men feeling like better fathers and husbands.

REAL FATHERS

REAL Fathers reported better communication and cooperation in their marriage.

This led to more meaningful conversations and an increase in joint decision-making among couples that respondents associated with a more harmonious home and relationship.

MASCULINITE, FAMILLE ET FOI

MFF endline results revealed that men in intervention groups were less likely to report perpetrating emotional violence compared to men in comparison groups.

At endline, 55% of men in intervention groups reported perpetrating emotional violence against their partners, compared with 65.5% of men in comparison groups.

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VIOLENT DISCIPLINE
OF CHILDREN

REAL FATHERS

REAL Fathers were around three times as likely not to perpetrate violent discipline of children as control fathers one year after the intervention.

Northern Uganda REAL Fathers were almost three (OR=2.79) times as likely to be nonviolent toward their children as control fathers, and Karamoja REAL Fathers were over three (OR=3.59) times as likely to be nonviolent as control fathers.
Northern Uganda REAL Fathers demonstrated a significant increase in rejection of physical punishment of children (20.8%) compared to baseline (12.3%), and more Karamoja REAL Fathers also rejected physical punishment of children (69.9%) compared to baseline (27.6%). Significant differences were not seen for fathers in the control group.

REAL FATHERS

REAL Fathers were more likely than control fathers to use positive parenting practices one year after the intervention.

Northern Uganda REAL Fathers were almost two (OR=1.72) times more likely to use positive parenting practices with their children than control fathers, and Karamoja REAL Fathers were almost three (OR=2.75) times as likely to use positive parenting practices.
Northern Uganda REAL Fathers were over two (OR=2.57) times more likely to be confident in the use of positive parenting practices than fathers in the control group, and Karamoja REAL Fathers were over four (OR=4.53) times more likely to be confident in the use of positive parenting practices than fathers in the control group.

REAL FATHERS

Both fathers and mothers reported using new strategies to discipline their children after participation in the REAL program.

These strategies included speaking calmly and explaining to their children why they acted inappropriately, telling them to stop certain behaviors, and advising them on how to behave appropriately.

GROWING UP GREAT!

Parents and guardians involved in GUG! reported a reduction in verbal violence toward their very young adolescents to enforce behavior and monitor their children's whereabouts.

Parents and guardians instead worked to replace verbal violence and a “power over” (or adults having dominance over young people) mentality with more respectful forms of communication that were also more gender-equal between male and female siblings.

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BULLYING BEHAVIORS
AMONG CHILDREN

GROWING UP GREAT!

By endline, subgroups of the GUG! intervention group of very young adolescents (VYAs) showed significant reductions in teasing and psychological abuse compared to the control group.

Out-of-school VYAs who participated in GUG! were 40% less likely at endline to experience teasing or verbal bullying than VYAs in the control group.

GROWING UP GREAT!

By endline, segments of the GUG! VYA intervention group showed a significant reduction in violence against their peers compared to the control group.

Out-of-school boys in GUG! groups were half as likely to perpetrate teasing, bullying, and/or physical violence against their peers compared to VYAs in the control group.

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EXPLORE THE COMPLEMENTARY WEB FEATURE

This infographic was written by Jamie Greenberg (IRH) with technical contributions from Anjalee Kohli, Courtney McLarnon, and Susan Igras (IRH); Rebecka Lundgren and Kathryn Barker (Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California San Diego); and Jennifer Gayles (Save the Children).

Additional valuable content review was provided by Population Reference Bureau (PRB) including Stephanie Perlson, Christine Power, and Heidi Worley. This infographic product was edited by Raquel Wojnar, and designed and produced by Anneka Van Scoyoc, both of PRB.

Institute for Reproductive Health
Georgetown University

irhinfo@georgetown.edu
202-687-1392

Top-level findings

Interventions that addressed IPV, violent discipline of children, and child bullying behaviors

REAL FATHERS

MASCULINITE, FAMILLE ET FOI

GROWING UP GREAT!

Which norms mattered?

Common strategies used to shift social norms to prevent IPV, violent discipline of children, and child bullying.

Results

INTIMATE PARTNERVIOLENCE

VIOLENT DISCIPLINEOF CHILDREN

BULLYING BEHAVIORSAMONG CHILDREN

INTIMATE PARTNER
VIOLENCE

VIOLENT DISCIPLINE
OF CHILDREN

BULLYING BEHAVIORS
AMONG CHILDREN