SASA! Study
A major component of the SASA intervention is a rigorous, scientific study to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the program. Raising Voices, the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP), the Gender Violence and Health Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine [view website], Makerere University and PATH are collaborating to conduct the SASA! Study.
This study will provide evidence about the potential role and impact of the SASA! approach to address gender inequality, violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
The specific aims of the study are to:
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assess the three year impact of the program on the balance of power in relationships; past year experience / perpetration of partner violence; and past year HIV risk behaviors by men and actions in response to violence by women;
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investigate the processes and causal pathways through which levels of gender-based violence and HIV behaviors are promulgated and change over time, including the impact of active involvement in the intervention on community volunteers and other resource people who work regularly with the intervention;
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document the process of implementing the SASA! program, and the economic costs of program delivery;
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use the research findings to inform methods to monitor the future replication of the SASA! methodology.
Quantitative research
The study will use a cluster randomized design to assess the impact of the intervention on community members in the location where the intervention is being implemented, and compare the findings with comparable communities that are not receiving the intervention. The intervention will beexpanded to the non-intervention communities at the end of the study.
Two cross-sectional surveys, one at baseline and one three years later, will measure community knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours of males and females aged 15 – 49, pre- and post-intervention respectively, in the intervention and comparison communities, with the eligibility criteria being that respondents are aged 15 – 49, and that they have lived in the study community for one year or more.
Eight communities eligible to receive the intervention were identified. Through a randomization process, four of these eight communities were selected to act as control groups, and four were selected to act as sites where the intervention will take place. Surveys are being administered in both intervention and control sites in November-December 2007, before the implementation of the SASA! intervention in January 2008, and again, three years after the initiation of the intervention. The survey of 800 females and 800 males will be conducted by a team of 21 trained researchers and supervisors.
Qualitative research
Complementary qualitative research will explore the processes and causal pathways through which the dynamics of relationships, levels of violence against women and HIV behaviours may change over time, including the impact of the active involvement in the intervention on community activists and other leaders and service providers who work regularly with the intervention. Focus group discussions (FGD) will aim to document community and volunteer’s their response to being exposed to the intervention, and the issues arising when trying to be non-violent in their relationships. The qualitative data collection will be conducted twice yearly, and will include focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with community volunteers and resource people (local leaders, police and health workers).
An important component of the SASA! Study is the development of simple tools for organizations using the SASA! approach to use to monitor and evaluate their own work.
The SASA! study is being generously supported by PATH and Irish Aid.
other SASA! links:
