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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1506459
This article is part of the Research Topic Public Health Approaches to Ending Violence Against Women: Global Campaigns, Policy, and Community Action View all articles
Effects of couple-based violence prevention education on male partners' knowledge, attitudes and controlling behavior related to intimate partner violence in rural Ethiopia: a cluster randomized controlled trial
Provisionally accepted- 1 Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
- 2 Wachemo University, Hosaena, Ethiopia
- 3 College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
- 4 University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Background: Supportive attitudes towards wife-beating and the experience of controlling behavior from husbands have been known to increase the risks of intimate partner violence (IPV). The aim of this study was to determine the effects of couple-based violence prevention education in addressing IPV-related knowledge, attitudes, and controlling behavior among male partners in rural Ethiopia.Method: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted using a two-arm parallel group design. The 16 clusters were randomly allocated into 8 intervention groups and 8 control groups.A total of 432 couples (432 male partners and 432 pregnant wives) participated in the trial.Couple-based violence prevention education (CBVPE) was provided to the participants in the intervention group, while the control group received routine or standard care. Difference-indifference analysis and the Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) model were used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention.Result: At the endline, 94.4% of male partners in the intervention group and 94.9% in the control group were available for the intention-to-treat analysis. Male partners in the intervention group were 3.7 times more likely to have good knowledge about IPV compared to male partners in the control group (AOR = 3.7; 95% CI 2.6-5.4). Male partners in the intervention group were 67.6% less likely to report supportive attitudes towards wife-beating compared to those in the control group (AOR = 0.324; 95% CI 0.229-0.459). Also, the proportion of controlling behavior exhibited by male partners in the intervention group was 56.4% less compared to the control group (AOR = 0.436; 95% CI 0.317-0.600).The intervention proved effective in enhancing knowledge about IPV, reducing supportive attitudes towards wife-beating, and curbing controlling behaviors among male partners in the study setting. This approach holds promise for scaling up and adapting to similar contexts in Ethiopia.The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT05856214 on May 4, 2023.
Keywords: Attitude, knowledge, intimate partner violence, male partners, Rural Ethiopia
Received: 05 Oct 2024; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Agde, Wordofa, Assefa and Magnus. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zeleke Dutamo Agde, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
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