NCT02506543

Creating Opportunities Through Mentoring, Parental Involvement and Safe Spaces - Ethiopia

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,014 (actual)
• Sponsor: Columbia University · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 13 Years – 19 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The study is a randomized controlled trial of COMPASS, an intervention for adolescent girls in three refugee camps in Ethiopia. The study design will employ a two group wait-list cluster randomized controlled trial where girls will be invited to participate in the COMPASS program, assigned to groups of approximately 20 for the purposes of the program, complete a pre-test baseline assessment, and will then be randomized by group to the intervention or control condition. In addition, qualitative research will address additional questions of acceptability, processes of change and best practice. Groups in three refugee camps - Sherkole, Bambasi, and Tongo - will be randomized to determine whether the participants receive the intervention or are placed on the wait-list immediately following the baseline. Those that do not get the curriculum during the study will receive it following the endline phase of the study so as to not create tensions or jealousies. The intervention, the COMPASS program, will involve a structured intervention for girls between the ages of 13-19 that is intended to engage adolescent girls, those who are influential in their lives, service providers and other stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of co-creating environments in which girls are valued and safe. The program is centered on establishing or supporting community-supported safe spaces for girls where they can come and gather among themselves and participate in a structured life-skills curriculum.

Detailed description

The study assessment will employ a mixed methods approach with most data collection occurring at pre-test/baseline and post-intervention. Quantitative survey methods will be used to evaluate attitudes towards a host of topics related to physical and financial assets and health-related behaviors. Survey questions will be administered using Audio Computer Assisted Self-Interviewing (ACASI). Quantitative methods will be used to yield statistical measures of the scale of changes in attitudes, skills, and behaviors due to the intervention. Qualitative methods at baseline will include focus group discussions with caregivers and participatory methods with girls to assess topics such as self-esteem, empowerment, safety, and resilience. Endline qualitative methods include in-depth interviews with caregivers, and small-group warm-up activities with adolescent girls, followed by in-depth interviews.

Conditions

• Sexual Assault
• Interpersonal Relations
• Marital Status
• Domestic Violence

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	COMPASS	COMPASS (Creating Opportunities through Mentoring, Parental involvement and Safe Spaces) is a program for 13-19 year old girls in three refugee camps in Ethiopia. The program is a structured intervention that is intended to engage adolescent girls, through life skills training and establishing or supporting community-supported safe spaces for girls where they can come and gather among themselves and participate in a structured life-skills curriculum.
BEHAVIORAL	No intervention	Wait list control group will not receive an intervention. After the follow-up study, the wait-list control group will receive the regular COMPASS program

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-08-01
• Primary completion: 2016-09-01
• Completion: 2016-09-01
• First posted: 2015-07-23
• Last updated: 2018-02-08

Locations

2 sites across 2 countries: United States, Ethiopia