IPV_Tanzania

Investigating the predictors and consequences of intimate partner violence: a mixed methods study in Mwanza, Tanzania.

 

The study, funded by the European Research Council Starting Grant IPV-Tanzania is conducted in collaboration with the Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit, consists of four components:

1. A four-wave longitudinal study on intimate partner violence among approximately 1000 women

2. A cross-sectional study of approximately 1000 young men aged 18 to 24 years

3. In-depth interviews with women who experienced intimate partner violence

4. In-depth interviews with men, including photovoice

 

Picture 1: Team at the Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit

This study is one of the largest quantitative and qualitative longitudinal studies on intimate partner violence with multiple time points among women of reproductive age in a low-income country. Applying a holistic approach, the study is not limited to information from woman only, it will also interview men qualitatively and quantitatively on their perceptions, predictors and consequences of intimate partner violence.

Objectives

The primary objective of the study will be to investigate the predictors and consequences of intimate partner violence in Tanzania over time, focusing specifically on women’s economic empowerment, poor mental health and alcohol abuse as predictors and consequences of intimate partner violence.

The specific aims of the study are:

1. To map out the changes in the incidence and intensity of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence over time and to explore overlaps with and changes in emotional and economic abuse and controlling behaviour.

2. Investigate how changes in the incidence and intensity of intimate partner violence impact alcohol abuse, poor mental health and women’s empowerment over time, with a special focus on the interactions between intimate partner violence and stressors and benefits of participation in microfinance loan groups.

3. Explore the effect of cumulative intimate partner violence at all time points on women’s mental health, alcohol abuse and economic empowerment.

4. Establish the pathways though which the selected indicators lead to intimate partner violence and vice versa.

5. Explore the mediators that influence the relationship between intimate partner violence and women’s mental health, alcohol abuse and economic empowerment.

As most theories on intimate partner violence originate from high income countries, this study has the strong potential to have a long-lasting impact on shaping the research agenda on intimate partner violence. It is of immediate necessity to address a vital public health challenge of our time.

Picture 2: Home utensils, the participants took this picture as a memory of what happened in previous months (Photovoice)

Funding

Publications

2023

• Meyer S, Hardt S, Brambilla R, Shukla S, Stöckl H. A systematic review and narrative synthesis of sociological theories explaining intimate partner violence. Trauma Violence & Abuse
• Mchome Z, Mshana G, Aloyce D, Peter E, Malibwa D, Dwarumpudi A, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. Men’s narratives on sexual violence in Mwanza, Tanzania. Journal of Sexual Abuse
• Meyer S, Mosha N, Hatcher A, Hashim R, Ayieko P, Kapiga S, Mshana G, Stöckl H. Food insecurity and intimate partner violence in Mwanza, Tanzania: a longitudinal analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• Stöckl H, Mosha N, Dartnall E, Ayieko P, Mtolela G, Mshana G. The short and long-term impact of COVID-19 restrictions on women’s mental health symptoms in Mwanza, Tanzania: a longitudinal study. PLOS Global Health
• Brambilla R, Mshana G, Mosha N, Malibwa D, Sichalwe S, Ayieko P, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. A cross-sectional analysis of young men's gambling and intimate partner violence perpetration in Mwanza, Tanzania. International Journal of Public Health
• Shubina O, Mshana G, Sichalwe S, Malibwa D, Mosha N, Hashim R, Nahay F, Ayieko P, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. The association between alcohol consumption and intimate partner violence in young male perpetrators in Mwanza, Tanzania: a cross-sectional study. Global Health Action

2022

• Aloyce D, Mshana G, Peter E, Malibwa D, Buller A, Mchome Z, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. Pathways of romantic jealousy to intimate partner violence in Mwanza, Tanzania. Family Relations
• Meyer S, Mosha N, Shakespeare T, Kuper H, Harvey S, Kapiga S, Mshana G, Stöckl H. Disability and intimate partner violence: a cross-sectional study from Mwanza, Tanzania. Disability and Health
• Hardt S, Stöckl H, Wamoyi J, Ranganathan M. Sexual harassment in low- and middle-income countries: a Qualitative Systematic Review. Trauma, Violence & Abuse
• Hatcher, A, Page S, Aletta van Eck L, Pearson I, Fielding-Miller R, Mazars C, Stöckl H. Systematic review of food insecurity and violence against women and girls: mixed methods findings from low- and middle-income settings. PloS Global Health MedRxiv. doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.20.22274085
• Stöckl H, Malibwa D, Brambilla R, Kapiga S, Mshana G. “Young men should work hard”: adult men’s views of young people in Mwanza, Tanzania. Psychology, Health & Medicine
• Mosha N, Mshana G, … Stöckl H. Intergenerational education, poverty and violence effects on adolescent education, early employment, and adolescent parenting. Psychology, Health & Medicine
• Mshana G, Mchome Z, Aloyce D, Peter E, Malibwa D, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. Same habitus in new field? How mobile phone communication reproduces masculinities and gender norms in intimate relationships in Mwanza, Tanzania. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
• Abramsky T, Harvey S, Mosha N, Mtolela G, Gibbs A, Mshana G, Lees S, Kapiga S & Stöckl H. Longitudinal inconsistencies in women’s self-reports of lifetime experience of physical and sexual IPV: Evidence from the MAISHA trial and follow-on study in North-western Tanzania. BMC Women’s Health
• Dwarumpudi A, Mchome Z, Mshana G, Aloyce D, Peter E, Malibwa D, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. Women’s coping with intimate partner violence in Mwanza, Tanzania. Culture, Health & Sexuality
• Pearson I, Page S, Zimmerman C, Meinck F, Gennari F, Guedes A, Stöckl H. The Co-occurrence of Intimate Partner Violence and Violence Against Children: A Systematic Review on Associated Factors in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
• Aloyce D, Stöckl H, Peter E, Malibwa D, Buller A, Mchome Z, Kapiga S, Mshana G. Men’s reflections on romantic jealousy and intimate partner violence in Mwanza, Tanzania. Violence against Women

2021

• Mshana G, Peter E, Malibwa D, Aloyce D, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. Masculinity, power and structural constraints: Men’s conceptualization of emotional abuse in Mwanza, Tanzania. Social Science and Medicine
• De Serpa Pimentel A, Mshana G, Dwarumpudi A, Aloyce D, Peter E, Mchome Z, Malibwa D, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. 2021 Women’s understanding of economic abuse in North-western Tanzania. Women’s Health, 17
• Mchome Z, Mshana G, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. 2021 Women’s narratives about COVID-19 in Northwestern Tanzania. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Ranganathan M, Wamoyi J, Stöckl H. 2021 Measurement and prevalence of sexual harassment in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. BMJ Open
• Mshana G, Mchome Z, Aloyce D, Peter E, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. 2021 Contested or complementary healing paradigms? Women’s narratives of COVID-19 remedies in Mwanza, Tanzania. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

2020

• Mchome Z, Mshana G, Aloyce D, Peter E, Malibwa D, Dwarumpudi A, Kapiga S, Stöckl H. 2020 Don’t you think it is violence forcing me to have sex while not happy?”: Women’s conceptualization of enjoyable sex and sexual intimate partner violence in Mwanza, Tanzania. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Selected presentations

Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum 2022

• Changes in intimate partner violence over time- a longitudinal study
  Heidi Stöckl, Neema Mosha, Lori Heise, Sheila Harvey, Saidi Kapiga, Grace Mtolela, Gerry Mshana
• Disability and intimate partner violence: a cross-sectional study from Mwanza, Tanzania
  Sarah Meyer, Neema Mosha, Tom Shakespeare, Hannah Kuper, Sheila Harvey, Saidi Kapiga, Gerry Mshana, Heidi Stöckl
• IPV and child maltreatment co-occurrence: a longitudinal study in Tanzania
  Selina Hardt, Neema Mosha, Sheila Harvey, Gerry Mshana, Heidi Stöckl
• Communication changes and intimate partner violence: A longitudinal study in Mwanza, Tanzania
  Sabrina Page, Sarah Meyer, Gerry Mshana, Grace Mtolela, Neema Mosha, Heidi Stöckl

Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum 2019

• Economic insecurity and intimate partner violence: a theoretical model
  Heidi Stöckl, E. Stern, M. Ranganathan, B. Mahenge, S. Lees, A. Hatcher, T. Abramsky
•  Investigating gender-based violence (GBV) among men in Mwanza, Northern Tanzania
  Asungushe Kayombo, G. Mshana, I. Kapinga, S. Kapiga, S. Harvey, H. Stöckl