Exploring the Impact of a Family-Focused, Gender-Transformative Intervention on Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being in a Humanitarian Context
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Setting
2.2. Intervention
2.3. Quantitative Methods
2.4. Qualitative Methods
3. Results
3.1. Quantitative Results
3.2. Qualitative Results
3.2.1. Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being
Self-Confidence
Self-Efficacy
“A mother told us that her daughter told her that her brother hit her, rebuked her, and bossed her around all day long. After a while, the mother told me that ‘my daughter benefited from you a lot and she was affected by your personalities a lot. Now when her brother hits her, she will defend herself, because of the information she gets from Mercy Corps.’ I myself learned and gained information and benefited from the teacher a lot”. She defends herself now and she says: “it’s not only you who got information, I did too”.(KII02)
“They taught kids how to be strong and defend themselves when they go out alone, without us. They didn’t know how to, maybe we didn’t give them clear information. Now they can react and defend themselves. A girl knows how to defend her education and future now. Many other things… I wanted my daughter to be stronger. If the program was given again, I would attend the sessions because my daughter benefited. I love to see my daughter strong”.(Azraq-FGD-CF-15022022 (E))
Improved Mental Health
“There was a desperate girl who didn’t feel strong, felt tired most of the time, and spent most of the day alone in her room. She didn’t mingle with people and didn’t sit with her family. She only left her room to eat. She didn’t have anything to talk about with her parents. When Mercy Corps visited the family and told them about the Siblings Program, they agreed to participate in the sessions. They started to attend sessions about self-confidence and self-defense. She started to learn about how to strengthen herself and how to communicate. After the sessions, her life started to become normal, and she started to talk to her parents and speak up her mind. She now tells her family about any problem she faces. She talks to her mom, dad, and brother”.(Za’atari-PAR-AG-20102021(1))
3.2.2. Improvements in Family Members’ Gender Equitable Attitudes and Awareness around Girls’ Safety and Wellbeing among Family Members
“My husband and I for example… he didn’t attend the sessions at first, then he did. The boy used to tell the girl to wash his dishes, and their dad used to tell me to wash the dishes. My son used to tell his sister to prepare the bed for him. After my son participated in the sessions, he started to prepare his bed and wash his dishes. He changed the way he treated his sisters. He is serving himself now. He learnt about compassion and when he sees that his sister or I are sick he will serve himself. His father used to say: ‘is he the girl of the house?’ and that we should serve him. Now things have changed”.(Za’atari-FGD-CF-24102021(2))
3.2.3. Changes in Control of and Communication around Girls’ Mobility and Behaviors
3.2.4. Affective Involvement and Emotional Connection within the Household
“I did not sit with my daughters a lot before. Now I sit with them and talk to them. I feel that a mother should do this. A girl will not tell her mother things if she feels that her mother is distant. When a mother designates time to sit with her daughters, they will communicate more and open up to one another…Yes, there is more harmony now. Anger and sadness are gone. For example, my daughter is not upset with me anymore”.(Azraq-IDI-CF-18102021(1))
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Adolescent Girls | Adolescent Boys | Female Caregivers | Male Caregivers | SSAGE Program Staff and Mentors | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cycle 1 | Azraq | 19 | 16 | 12 | 15 | – |
Za’atari | 20 | 19 | 17 | 19 | – | |
Cycle 2 | Azraq | 17 | 16 | 12 | 12 | – |
Za’atari | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | |
Total | 65 | 55 | 44 | 49 | 8 |
Full Sample (n = 68) | Adolescent Girls (n = 18) | Adolescent Boys (n = 17) | Female Caregivers (n = 16) | Male Caregivers (n = 17) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age | 29.7 [16.2] | 12.5 [2.0] | 16.7 [2.7] | 41.2 [4.0] | 48.6 [7.6] |
Ever attended school | 66 (97.1%) | 18 (100.0%) | 16 (94.1%) | 15 (93.8%) | 17 (100.0%) |
Currently attending school (if ever attended) | --- | 18 (100.0%) | 12 (92.3%) | --- | --- |
Ever worked for pay | 26 (38.2%) | 1 (5.6%) | 1 (4.2%) | 4 (25.0%) | 14 (82.4%) |
Baseline | Endline | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|
Mental Health | |||
Kessler Screening Scale for Psychological Distress (n = 55) | 13.67 | 15.85 | 0.007 |
[5.16] | [6.04] | ||
Resilience | |||
Child and Youth Resilience Measure (n = 24) | 39.83 | 42.62 | 0.030 |
[4.78] | [5.06] | ||
Gender Equity | |||
International Men and Gender Equality-modified scale (n = 58) | 2.34 | 2.49 | 0.004 |
[0.48] | [0.43] | ||
Family Functioning | |||
Family Attachment and Changeability Index (n = 52) | 61.33 | 64.69 | 0.044 |
[8.30] | [10.01] |
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Seff, I.; Koris, A.; Giuffrida, M.; Ibala, R.; Anderson, K.; Shalouf, H.; Deitch, J.; Stark, L. Exploring the Impact of a Family-Focused, Gender-Transformative Intervention on Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being in a Humanitarian Context. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 15357. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215357
Seff I, Koris A, Giuffrida M, Ibala R, Anderson K, Shalouf H, Deitch J, Stark L. Exploring the Impact of a Family-Focused, Gender-Transformative Intervention on Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being in a Humanitarian Context. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(22):15357. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215357
Chicago/Turabian StyleSeff, Ilana, Andrea Koris, Monica Giuffrida, Reine Ibala, Kristine Anderson, Hana Shalouf, Julianne Deitch, and Lindsay Stark. 2022. "Exploring the Impact of a Family-Focused, Gender-Transformative Intervention on Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being in a Humanitarian Context" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 22: 15357. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215357
APA StyleSeff, I., Koris, A., Giuffrida, M., Ibala, R., Anderson, K., Shalouf, H., Deitch, J., & Stark, L. (2022). Exploring the Impact of a Family-Focused, Gender-Transformative Intervention on Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being in a Humanitarian Context. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(22), 15357. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215357