Developing and Testing the Jenga Dada Intervention in Kenya

NCT ID: NCT06414070

Last Updated: 2025-05-08

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 279 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-06-17
• Study Completion Date: 2024-12-04

Brief Summary

This study aims to work with women's economic empowerment groups within the community to address reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence and promote economic self-sufficiency among women (aged 15+ years). Based on the investigators' previous research in the United States, Bangladesh, and Kenya, the ARCHES (Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings) intervention is a highly effective clinic-based model to improve women's ability to use family planning and cope with abuse. Due to common requests for community-based support, content from the ARCHES intervention along with Girls Invest, an economic empowerment intervention implemented in the US and Nigeria, is being adapted to develop Jenga Dada, which means "Build a Woman Up" in Kiswahili, to be delivered to women's economic empowerment groups. The study will conduct formative research among women's economic empowerment group members, develop the Jenga Dada intervention, and conduct a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial to assess preliminary efficacy of the intervention on proximal outcomes (i.e., self-efficacy) and feasibility and acceptability.

Detailed Description

Background: This project aims to develop and preliminarily evaluate an intervention, Jenga Dada, on its feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy to increase women's and girl's ability to successfully cope with reproductive coercion (RC), intimate partner violence (IPV), economic abuse, and promote reproductive health and economic self-sufficiency among women participating in economic empowerment groups in rural and peri-urban areas of Uasin Gishu county, Kenya. Jenga Dada is being developed as an innovative hybrid approach based on adaptation and integration of core content from two effective interventions: ARCHES (Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings) and Girls Invest. ARCHES is a clinic-based contraceptive counseling intervention designed and demonstrated to support voluntary contraceptive use and reduce physical IPV. ARCHES was originally designed in the U.S. and has been adapted to and evaluated, with positive results, in Bangladesh and Nairobi, Kenya, and is currently being adapted for scale-up in public sector facilities in Uasin Gishu county, Kenya. Girls Invest is a mobile health application (mHealth app) with integrated intervention modules on gender, IPV, and financial literacy demonstrated to be feasible and acceptable among adolescent girls in the U.S. and Nigeria (efficacy evaluation ongoing). Jenga Dada combines the information and education from ARCHES and Girls Invest in a group discussion-based curriculum, delivered by a local women's empowerment non-governmental organization (NGO), that aims to build social support for women, delivered within women's economic empowerment groups as they move towards economic self-sufficiency, reproductive autonomy, and violence-free relationships.

Intervention: Jenga Dada educational sessions will be delivered to existing women's economic empowerment group participants during regular meetings by a facilitator from a local NGO. Sessions will include education and facilitated group discussions on gender, RC, IPV, economic abuse, and financial literacy to bolster understanding, shift attitudes and norms, and support peers on these issues. One 60-minute guided group discussion will take place for each of the eight training modules during the weekly or bi-weekly women's economic empowerment group meetings.

Methodology: This pilot trial will test the hypothesis that women participating in Jenga Dada will report improved proximal outcomes regarding a) coping with economic abuse, IPV, and RC (self-efficacy to seek assistance for IPV and coping strategies to maintain contraceptive use in the face of opposition) and b) self-efficacy to seek support for violence experiences from women's economic group members. Study activities include formative research to inform development of Jenga Dada based on the lived experience of women and girls and implementers in this context, pilot testing, and evaluation of the effects of Jenga Dada on violence, reproductive health, and economic outcomes. The evaluation will occur in two phases via random assignment of 18 existing women's economic empowerment groups to receive either Jenga Dada or standard women's economic empowerment group programming with baseline and 4-month follow-up survey data collected (n=280 participants, ages 15+ years). Post-program qualitative data from participants and implementers will be collected and analyzed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the program.

Conditions

Reproductive Coercion; Intimate Partner Violence

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Jenga Dada

Jenga Dada programming in women's economic empowerment group meetings

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Jenga Dada

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Jenga Dada aims to empower women participating in community-based economic groups by training them to recognize inequality, challenge it, and work toward positive changes in their lives related to finances, health, and relationships and increase social support on these issues within the groups. Jenga Dada is expected to include eight modules: 1) overview of the intervention, 2) gender roles, 3) economic control and abuse, 4) intimate partner violence (IPV), 5) reproductive coercion (RC), 6) family planning (FP), 7) financial literacy, and 8) life goals. The Jenga Dada intervention is group discussion-based and draws on two effective interventions: ARCHES (a facility-based contraceptive counseling intervention providing support for RC and IPV) and Girls Invest (a mobile health application with integrated modules on gender, IPV, and financial literacy). The intervention will be facilitated by a local NGO in partnership with group leaders.

Waitlist Control

Standard women's economic empowerment group programming

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Jenga Dada

Jenga Dada aims to empower women participating in community-based economic groups by training them to recognize inequality, challenge it, and work toward positive changes in their lives related to finances, health, and relationships and increase social support on these issues within the groups. Jenga Dada is expected to include eight modules: 1) overview of the intervention, 2) gender roles, 3) economic control and abuse, 4) intimate partner violence (IPV), 5) reproductive coercion (RC), 6) family planning (FP), 7) financial literacy, and 8) life goals. The Jenga Dada intervention is group discussion-based and draws on two effective interventions: ARCHES (a facility-based contraceptive counseling intervention providing support for RC and IPV) and Girls Invest (a mobile health application with integrated modules on gender, IPV, and financial literacy). The intervention will be facilitated by a local NGO in partnership with group leaders.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Being a women's economic group member prior to baseline
• Aged 15 years and older
• Able to provide informed consent
• Not planning to move out of the area or leave the women's economic group in the next 4 months

Exclusion Criteria

• None

• Minimum Eligible Age: 15 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Population Council Kenya

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Women's Empowerment Link

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

San Diego State University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of California, San Diego

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Jay G. Silverman, PhD

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Jay G Silverman, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, San Diego

Locations

Community-based Women's Economic Empowerment Groups in Uasin Gishu County

Eldoret, , Kenya

Countries

Kenya

Other Identifiers

800987

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id