Background
Interventions in India to improve menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) have been implemented at the national, state, district and school level. However, evaluations of these interventions have been scarce. The objective of the study was to determine if a social and behavioral change communication (SBCC) intervention (
GARIMA)
had a relationship with knowledge, attitudes, interpersonal communication, restrictions and MHHM using a comparison group post-test only design among 2206 adolescent girls.
Methods
Intervention villages and adolescent girls were selected through stratified random sampling based on where
GARIMA
was implemented. Villages and adolescent girls in comparison villages were matched socio-demographically to intervention villages and adolescent girls. Multi-level logistic regressions assessed the relationship between the encoded exposure, mediators and MHHM.
Results
The results showed that the encoded exposure predicted all behaviors corresponding to MHHM. Additionally, adolescent girls in the high encoded exposure group had significantly higher knowledge about puberty and reproductive parts (AOR: 2.03 (95% CI: 1.31 – 3.15)), positive attitudes towards gender (AOR: 1.48 (95% CI: 1.02 – 2.16)) and higher levels of some discussion and dialogue (AOR: 1.41 (95% CI: 1.04 – 1.92)).
Conclusions
Future programs should use SBCC to improve MHHM behavior but involve families, peers and community members to a greater extent in order to improve attitudes towards menstruation, attitudes towards restrictions, attitudes towards absorbent use and reduce restrictions within the community.
With seven billion mobile phone subscriptions and a third of the world's population going online, digital information and communication technologies present untapped platforms for communication, learning and empowerment. Newer technologies such as mobile phones, the internet and computers have the potential to contribute significantly to the prevention of violence against children. Yet, efforts to date have focused primarily on the risks associated with them. It is important to consider how digital technologies can enhance social and behaviour change interventions to prevent and respond to violence against children. We conducted a systematic review of social and behaviour change interventions addressing violence against children. We searched five databases for peer-reviewed and grey literature published between 2000 and 2015, which yielded 18 manuscripts relevant to the use of computers, the internet or mobile phones. Digital technologies were typically combined with other communication channels in order to reach children, parents, teachers or service providers. We are unable to draw any conclusions on the direct effectiveness of digital technologies, indicating the need for more rigorous evaluations to assess their added value. Future work should explore how digital technologies can be integrated into programmes disseminating information, raising awareness, helping individuals report violence and mobilising communities to action.
KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES• Successful violence prevention programmes are not taking full advantage of digital technologies. Adapting programmes and messages for computer, internet or mobile phone delivery would broaden their scope and reach.• The interactive nature of digital technologies makes them ideally suited to involve and empower individuals and entire communities for change.• The effectiveness of digital technologies in preventing violence against children is still unclear. More investment in research and evaluation is needed.
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