Description of variables
| Variable (report) | Construction | Hypothesis | Source |
| Women’s experience of intimate partner violence | |||
| Any intimate partner violence (women) | Binary variable coded to 1 if a female partner of a male participant responded affirmatively to an instance of physical, sexual and/or emotional violence in the past 12 months (items detailed below). | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Physical violence (women) | Binary variable coded to 1 if a female partner of a male participant responded affirmatively to an instance of any of the following items occurring in the past 12 months: (1) partner pushed, shook or threw something at respondent, (2) slapped her, (3) twisted respondent's arm or pulled her hair, (4) punched respondent with his fist or with something that could hurt her, (5) kicked respondent, dragged her on the floor, beat her, (6) tried to choke respondent or burn her on purpose, (7) threatened or attacked respondent with a knife, gun or other weapon. Coded to 0 if no occurrence, coded to missing if one item missing and all others are 0, coded to 1 if one item missing and at least one item is 1. | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Severe physical violence (women) | Binary variable based on the same items as physical violence. It is coded to 1 if any of the items (3) to (7) listed above occurred or if item (1) or (2) happened more than once in the past 12 months. | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Sexual violence (women) | Binary variable coded to 1 if a female partner of a male participant responded affirmatively to an instance of any of the following items occurring in the past 12 months: (1) partner physically forced respondent to have sex with him even when she did not want to, (2) forced respondent to have sex even when she did not want to because she was afraid of what he could do to her, (3) forced respondent to do sexual acts respondent finds humiliating. Treatment of missing values as above. | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Emotional violence (women) | Binary variable coded to 1 if a woman reported at least one experience of emotional violence or controlling behaviour by her intimate partner in the past 12 months, defined as any of the following items occurring: (1) partner was jealous when respondent talked to other men, (2) accused respondent of cheating on him, (3) did not allow respondent to visit her friends, (4) attempted to limit respondent's contacts with her family, (5) insisted to know where respondent was at all times, (6) said or did something to humiliate respondent in front of others, (7) threatened to hurt or harm respondent or someone close to her, (8) insulted or made respondent feel bad about herself, (9) let respondent know he could have other partners. Treatment of missing values as above. | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Economic abuse (women) | Binary variable coded to 1 if a woman reported at least one instance of economic abuse by her intimate partner in the past 12 months, defined as any of the following items: (1) took respondent's earned money against her will, (2) refused to give respondent money for household needs, even when he had money to do so, (3) forced respondent to give money earned by respondent to his own family. | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Men’s intention to commit violence and attitudes towards violence and gender equality | |||
| Intention to commit violence (men) | This indicator is assessed using men’s responses using a Proximal Antecedents to Violent Episodes scale which comprised 18 items on a 4-point Likert scale of likelihood of becoming violent or intimidating. The variable is a continuous variable that is the sum of situations in which men reported being completely or somewhat likely to use violence: (1) if partner offends him, (2) threatens to leave him, (3) does not stop complaining, (4) if he walks in on partner having sexual intercourse, (5) if partner told him she would prefer never to have met him, (6) spends a lot of time with a close friend, (7) if he walks in on partner flirting with someone, (8) partner comes home late, (9) spends money without talking about it first, (10) they argue about sex, (11) if partner mocks him, (12) tries to control him, (13) interrupts him, (14) takes an important decision without telling him first, (15) ignores him, (16) is aggressive in the first place, (17) tries to leave him, (18) blames him for something he did not do; and of situations in which men reported being likely to become intimidating: (1) if partner does something to offend him, (2) threatens to leave him, (3) spends a lot of time with a close friend, (4) walks in on partner flirting with someone, (5) comes home late, (6) spends money without discussing it first, (7) they argue about sex, (8) partner mocks him, (9) interrupts him, (10) takes an important decision without telling him. Range: 0–28. | Decrease | Proximal Antecedents to Violence Episodes scale21 |
| Acceptance of physical violence (men) | Binary variable equal to 1 if the male participant agrees with any of the following reasons as a justification for a husband to beat or hit his wife: if she goes out without telling him, if she neglects the children, if she refuses to have sex with him, if she burns the food, if she disobeys, if he knows that she has been unfaithful. Variable is coded to 0 if he disagrees with all the reasons. | Decrease | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Ability to refuse sex (men) | Binary variable equal to 1 if the male participant agrees with all the following reasons as a justification for a woman to refuse sex with her husband: if she finds out he has an STI, if she finds out he is having sex with another woman, if she just gave birth, if she is tired or not in the mood, if he is drunk, if he mistreats her, if he refuses to use condoms. Variable is coded to 0 if he agrees with at least one of the reasons. | Increase | WHO multicountry study1 |
| Gender equitable attitudes (men) | Continuous variable that is the sum of the answers to a list of 16 statements about gender beliefs and behaviours such as: ‘A woman should be ashamed if her husband had to cook or clean the house’, ‘women's behaviors are the cause of the violence used against them by their partners’, ‘a woman could be a good local leader’. Items are reversed if needed to indicate gender equitable attitudes when equal to 1. | Increase | Adapted from various items from the Compendium of Gender Scales (Gender Equitable Men and Gender Beliefs) |
| Quality of the couple’s relationship (women) | |||
| Quality of the relationship (women) | Sum of responses to the following seven items on a Likert frequency scale: feels appreciated by partner, feels partner and her manage to sort out their disagreement, feels partner belittled her opinions (reversed), feelings or desires, feels partner blames her when something is wrong (reversed), feels partner and her share their happy and sad moments, her partner and her live in harmony, participate together in activities outside of the house. Range: 0–14, higher values indicate increased quality of the relationship. | Increase | The scale was designed for this study based on formative research conducted by IRC during preparation of the intervention. |
| Perception of negative male behaviour (women) | Sum of responses to the following five items on a Likert frequency scale: feels partner drinks too much, spends household money on for personal leisure, returns home too late, spends too much time with other women, is rude to her. Range: 0–10, higher values indicate increased perceived negative behaviours by the par quality of the relationship. | Decrease | Same as above |
| Intrahousehold cooperation | |||
| Respondent lets partner know the totality of her income (women/men) | Women and men were asked whether their partner knows about the totality, more than half, less than half, or does not know anything at all about the income that they earn personally. Outcome variable is a binary variable equal to 1 if respondent reports that their partner knows about the totality of the income that they earn personally. Variables are coded separately for men and women. Collected at endline only.* | Increase | |
| Women’s decision-making power | |||
| Woman’s control over her personal income (women) | Binary variable equal to 1 if the woman reported that decisions over the use of her personal income are made mainly by her rather than being shared or made mainly by someone else in the household. | Increase | |
| Degree of decision-making of woman over household expenses (women) | Continuous variable that is defined as the sum of the domains of decision-making the woman participates in. A woman participates in a given decision when she alone or jointly with someone else makes the decision. The indicators included in the index are recoded as binary indicators equal to 1 if she participates in the decision-making. The domains included are: (1) large household expenses; (2) minor daily household expenses; (3) children schooling expenses. Range: 0–3. | Increase | Adapted from the Cote d’Ivoire Men in Partnership study questionnaire10 |
| Gendered division of household tasks | |||
| Men’s involvement in housework (women) | Continuous variable that is the sum of responses to questions about the division of the following tasks in the household: (1) childcare, (2) cleaning/tidying the house, (3) buying food/going to the market, (4) washing clothes, (5) looking after livestock, (6) fetching wood, (7) fetching water, (8) following the girls’ education and activities, (9) following the boys’ education and activities. Respondents were asked who was responsible for each task in the last 3 months. Lower values of the index indicate a larger responsibility of the woman, higher values of the index signify increased participation of husband. Items are recoded as 0 if the answer is ‘someone else’. | Increase | Adapted from the Cote d’Ivoire Men in Partnership study questionnaire10 |
| Time spent on domestic tasks (women/men) | Total number of hours spent by the woman (man) on cleaning/tidying the house and cooking in the past 24 hours. Collected at endline only. | Increase (men), decrease (women) | |
| Time spent on childcare (women/men) | Total number of hours spent by the woman (man) on childcare in the past 24 hours. Collected at endline only. | Increase (men), decrease (women) | |
*Although these data were collected at baseline for the female respondents, changes in the way the question was asked between baseline and endline make the use of this information impossible.
IRC, International Rescue Committee; STI, sexually transmitted infection.