Impact of the RHANI Wives intervention on marital conflict and sexual coercion

Niranjan Saggurti; Saritha Nair; Jay G Silverman; Dattaram D Naik; Madhusudana Battala; Anindita Dasgupta; Donta Balaiah; Anita Raj

doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2014.01.015

Impact of the RHANI Wives intervention on marital conflict and sexual coercion

Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2014 Jul;126(1):18-22. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2014.01.015. Epub 2014 Apr 3.

Authors

Niranjan Saggurti¹, Saritha Nair², Jay G Silverman³, Dattaram D Naik², Madhusudana Battala⁴, Anindita Dasgupta⁵, Donta Balaiah², Anita Raj⁶

Affiliations

¹ Population Council, New Delhi, India. Electronic address: nsaggurti@popcouncil.org.
² National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai, India.
³ Center on Gender Equity and Health, Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, USA; Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA.
⁴ Population Council, New Delhi, India.
⁵ Center on Gender Equity and Health, Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, USA; Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health (Global Health), San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego, USA.
⁶ Center on Gender Equity and Health, Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, USA; Department of Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine, Clinical Addiction Research and Education, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effects of the RHANI (Reducing HIV among Non-Infected) Wives intervention on marital conflict and intimate partner violence (IPV) in urban India.

Methods: A 2-armed cluster-randomized controlled trial (7 intervention, 6 control clusters) of the RHANI Wives intervention was conducted with 220 women contending with a history of IPV and/or husband's drunken behavior. Participants were surveyed at baseline and 4.5-month follow-up. Outcome measures included marital conflict (arguments with husband in past 3 months), marital IPV (physical or sexual violence from husband in past 3 months), and marital sexual coercion (husband forcing sex at last sex). Intention-to-treat logistic generalized linear mixed models were used to determine intervention impact.

Results: One-third (35.0%) of participants reported physical or sexual abuse from their husband in the past 3 months, and 58.6% reported that their husband was drunk in the past 30 days. Intention-to-treat analyses indicated time×treatment reductions in marital conflict (risk ratio [RR] 0.4; 90% confidence interval [CI], 0.1-0.9; P=0.06) and marital sexual coercion (RR 0.2; 90% CI, 0.05-0.9; P=0.08), but not IPV.

Conclusion: The findings suggest the potential utility of this intervention in reducing marital conflict and sexual coercion among women in urban India. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01592994.

Keywords: HIV prevention; India; Marital conflict; Sexual Coercion; Violence.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Female
HIV Infections / prevention & control*
Humans
India
Spouse Abuse / prevention & control*
Spouse Abuse / statistics & numerical data
Unsafe Sex / prevention & control*
Unsafe Sex / statistics & numerical data
Urban Population
Young Adult

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01592994

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data

Grants and funding