Dataset Information

Development and validation of the LoVI: the Laws on Violence against women and girls Index.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human-rights violation with adverse long-term and inter-generational consequences. Redefining VAWG as legally unacceptable is one strategy for social change. The co-occurrence of national laws against VAWG is understudied, and tools to monitor the national legal environment are lacking. We developed the Laws on Violence against Women and Girls Index (LoVI) to measure global progress to develop comprehensive national legislation against child marriage, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and marital rape. METHODS:Using data from 2016 and 2018 for 189 countries from the World Bank Women, Business, and the Law database, we used factor analysis to assess the dimensionality of the LoVI. We examined the distribution of the LoVI across countries and regions, and the relationship of national rankings on the LoVI with those for other indicators from the United Nations, Demographic and Health Surveys, and World Factbook. RESULTS:A single LoVI factor showed good model fit in the factor analysis. National LoVI rankings were positively associated with gender equality in human development and economic rights-related rankings and negatively associated with rates of justifying wife beating and of lifetime and prior-year physical and/or sexual IPV. The LoVI was not associated with national indicators for human development and income inequality. CONCLUSION:The LoVI is a concise, coherent, validated index to monitor the progress of nations on adopting comprehensive legislation to advance 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 5, to eliminate VAWG.

SUBMITTER: Yount KM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7260825 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Development and validation of the LoVI: the Laws on Violence against women and girls Index.

Yount Kathryn M KM Lewis Patricia C PC Clark Cari Jo CJ Heise Lori L Naved Ruchira T RT Maxwell Lauren L

BMC international health and human rights 20200529 1

<h4>Background</h4>Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human-rights violation with adverse long-term and inter-generational consequences. Redefining VAWG as legally unacceptable is one strategy for social change. The co-occurrence of national laws against VAWG is understudied, and tools to monitor the national legal environment are lacking. We developed the Laws on Violence against Women and Girls Index (LoVI) to measure global progress to develop comprehensive national legislation agai ...[more]

PMID: 32471424

Similar Datasets

Project description:IntroductionTo make valid comparisons across groups, a measurement instrument needs to be measurement invariant across those groups. The present study evaluates measurement invariance for experience of violence among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.MethodsWe used survey data collected from 1,081 AGYW aged 15-22 years from two Nairobi's informal settlements of Korogocho (n = 617) and Viwandani (n = 464) in 2017 through DREAMS (an initiative aimed at reducing HIV incidence among AGYW with a core package of evidence-based interventions) impact evaluation project. Experience of violence was measured using the 15-item WHO's violence against women instrument, and factorial (non)invariance assessed within exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) framework. Cross-group measurement invariance was assessed using Bayesian Multiple Indicator Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model across site, age groups, self-reported invitation to participate in DREAMS, marital status, currently in school, education level, religion, ethnic groups, ever had sex, slept hungry at night past 4 weeks, and wealth index.ResultsThe mean and median ages of the AGYW were 17.9 years and 17 years, respectively. About 59% reported having had sex and 58% of AGYW were in school. The percentage reporting each act of violence varied from 1.6% ("attacked you with a weapon") to 26.5% ("insult you or make you feel bad about yourself"). About 44% (n = 474) of participants experienced ≥1 acts of violence, and 2.7% (n = 29) experienced at least half of the 15 acts. The structure underlying the 15 items was configurally similar to that proposed by WHO, with three factors reflecting either psychological, physical, or sexual violence. Noninvariance was detected for five items-spread across the three domains. Three of five items showed noninvariance only for sleeping hungry at night in the past 4 weeks. As the majority of items did not show evidence of noninvariance, differences in latent mean scores likely reflect actual differences and may not be attributable to measurement artifacts.ConclusionsUsing state-of-the-art statistical techniques on a widely used instrument for measuring exposure to violence among women, this study provides support for the subscales of psychological, physical and sexual violence in a Kenyan AGYW population. The instrument supports comparisons across groups within this population. This is crucial when comparing violence against girls/women prevalence rates and to understand challenges and exchange strategies to reduce abuse or violence experienced by AGYW, or women in general.

Project description:BackgroundViolence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human rights violation with social, economic, and health consequences for survivors, perpetrators, and society. Robust evidence on economic, social, and health impact, plus the cost of delivery of VAWG prevention, is critical to making the case for investment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health sector resources are highly constrained. We report on the costs and health impact of VAWG prevention in 6 countries.Methods and findingsWe conducted a trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis of VAWG prevention interventions using primary data from 5 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in sub-Saharan Africa and 1 in South Asia. We evaluated 2 school-based interventions aimed at adolescents (11 to 14 years old) and 2 workshop-based (small group or one to one) interventions, 1 community-based intervention, and 1 combined small group and community-based programme all aimed at adult men and women (18+ years old). All interventions were delivered between 2015 and 2018 and were compared to a do-nothing scenario, except for one of the school-based interventions (government-mandated programme) and for the combined intervention (access to financial services in small groups). We computed the health burden from VAWG with disability-adjusted life year (DALY). We estimated per capita DALYs averted using statistical models that reflect each trial's design and any baseline imbalances. We report cost-effectiveness as cost per DALY averted and characterise uncertainty in the estimates with probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs), which show the probability of cost-effectiveness at different thresholds. We report a subgroup analysis of the small group component of the combined intervention and no other subgroup analysis. We also report an impact inventory to illustrate interventions' socioeconomic impact beyond health. We use a 3% discount rate for investment costs and a 1-year time horizon, assuming no effects post the intervention period. From a health sector perspective, the cost per DALY averted varies between US$222 (2018), for an established gender attitudes and harmful social norms change community-based intervention in Ghana, to US$17,548 (2018) for a livelihoods intervention in South Africa. Taking a societal perspective and including wider economic impact improves the cost-effectiveness of some interventions but reduces others. For example, interventions with positive economic impacts, often those with explicit economic goals, offset implementation costs and achieve more favourable cost-effectiveness ratios. Results are robust to sensitivity analyses. Our DALYs include a subset of the health consequences of VAWG exposure; we assume no mortality impact from any of the health consequences included in the DALYs calculations. In both cases, we may be underestimating overall health impact. We also do not report on participants' health costs.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that investment in established community-based VAWG prevention interventions can improve population health in LMICs, even within highly constrained health budgets. However, several VAWG prevention interventions require further modification to achieve affordability and cost-effectiveness at scale. Broadening the range of social, health, and economic outcomes captured in future cost-effectiveness assessments remains critical to justifying the investment urgently required to prevent VAWG globally.

Project description:IntroductionIn 2013, the WHO published the first global and regional estimates on physical and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) based on a systematic review of population-based prevalence studies. In this protocol, we describe a new systematic review for the production of updated estimates for IPV and NPSV for global monitoring of violence against women, including providing the baseline for measuring Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.Methods and analysisThe systematic review will update and extend the previous search for population-based surveys (either nationally or subnationally representative) conducted among women aged 15+ years that measured the prevalence of physical, sexual, psychological and physical and/or sexual IPV, NPSV or sexual violence by any perpetrator up to December 2019. Data will be extracted separately for all age groups, setting (urban/rural), partnership status (currently partnered/ever partnered/all women) and recall period (lifetime prevalence/past 12 months). Studies will be identified from electronic searches of online databases of EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health and PsycInfo. A search of national statistics office homepages will be conducted for each country to identify reports on population-based, national or subnational studies that include data on IPV or NPSV published outside academic journals. Two reviewers will be involved in quality assessment and data extraction of the review. The review is planned to be updated on a continuous basis. All findings will undergo a country consultation process.Ethics and disseminationFormal ethical approval is not required, as primary data will not be collected. This systematic review will provide a basis and a follow-up tool for global monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal Target 5.2 on the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.Prospero registration numberCRD42017054100.

Project description:Willingness to intervene when one becomes aware of a case of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) reflects the level of tolerance and acceptance of this type of violence in society. Increasing the likelihood of intervention to help victims of IPVAW is also a target for prevention strategies aiming to increase informal social control of IPVAW. In this study, we present the development and validation of the Willingness to Intervene in Cases of Intimate Partner Violence (WI-IPVAW) scale. We report data for both the long and short versions of the scale. We analyzed the latent structure, the reliability and validity of the WI-IPVAW across four samples (N = 1648). Factor analyses supported a bifactor model with a general non-specific factor expressing willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW, and three specific factors reflecting different intervention preferences: a preference for setting the law enforcement process in motion ("calling the cops" factor), a preference for personal intervention ("personal involvement" factor), and a preference for non-intervention ("not my business" factor). Configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance across genders were supported. Two short versions of the scale, with nine and six items, respectively, were constructed on the base of quantitative and qualitative criteria. The long and short versions of the WI-IPVAW demonstrated both high reliability and construct validity, as they were strongly related to the acceptability of IPVAW, victim-blaming attitudes, perceived severity of IPVAW, and hostile sexism. These results confirm that both the long and short versions of the WI-IPVAW scale are psychometrically sound instruments to analyze willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW in different settings and with different research needs (e.g., long versions for clinical and research settings, and short versions for large population surveys). The WI-IPVAW is also useful for assessing prevention policies and public education campaigns design to promote a more responsive social environment in cases of IPVAW, thus contributing to deter and reduce this major social and public health problem.

Dataset Information

Development and validation of the LoVI: the Laws on Violence against women and girls Index.

Publications

Development and validation of the LoVI: the Laws on Violence against women and girls Index.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets