article · Frontiers in Public Health
Measuring intimate partner violence is difficult because both men and women frequently underreport incidents. In regions where such violence is socially tolerated, men often fail to report their actions because they do not recognise their behaviour as harmful or abusive. A cluster-randomised controlled trial involving 450 couples across nine villages in Tanzania evaluated interventions intended to increase men's understanding and reporting accuracy. One group provided peer discussion groups for men on gender relations and abuse, a second added broader community dialogues, and a control group received no programming. The peer groups significantly increased agreement between partners regarding the occurrence of physical, sexual, and economic violence, reducing male denials of their partners' accounts. However, concordant reporting did not improve for emotional abuse. The results suggest that clearly defining abuse can substantially improve male reporting accuracy.
Accurate data on intimate partner violence is essential for designing effective prevention programmes and public health policies. When men underreport abusive behaviour due to poor awareness, the true scale of violence remains hidden. Understanding how peer education and explicit definitions improve reporting accuracy helps organisations better measure abuse and evaluate interventions aimed at protecting women.
The findings can inform non-profit organisations, public health bodies, and survey designers developing gender-based violence evaluation tools and educational programmes. The trial demonstrates tested, applied field interventions and survey methodology modifications ready for adaptation in social development initiatives, though the abstract indicates no direct commercial product or market pathway.
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Purpose Intimate partner violence (IPV) is challenging to measure due to underreporting by both men and women. The reasons why men fail to disclose their IPV perpetration in societies where such behavior is more socially accepted remain an open question. Men’s lack of awareness of how their behaviors can harm women is a contributing factor. We evaluated the impact of an intervention designed to increase men’s understanding of IPV on their ability to report it accurately, as indicated by men reporting IPV consistently with their female partners (whose reports are valid indicators of IPV). Methods We analyzed data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in Tanzania. A total of 450 couples from nine villages were randomly assigned to one of three arms, with each arm comprising 150 couples. In Intervention Arm 1, men participated in peer groups that explored gender relations and IPV. In Intervention Arm 2, men participated in peer groups, and communities additionally engaged in dialogues on similar topics. The Control Arm had no such activities. IPV data were collected from both partners, following ethical guidelines to ensure women’s safety. Our primary outcome includes couples reporting concordantly whether IPV occurred (couples’ concordant reporting). Results From baseline to endline, concordant reporting among couples increased for physical (31%, p = 0.002), sexual (24%, p = 0.01), and economic (22%, p = 0.05) IPV in Intervention Arm 1, accompanied by fewer men disagreeing with their female partners’ IPV reports. Similarly, in Intervention Arm 2, concordant reporting increased for physical (24%, p = 0.02) and sexual (22%, p = 0.04) IPV. There was no improvement in the concordant reporting of emotional IPV across the arms. Compared to couples in the Control Arm, those in Intervention Arm 1 had higher odds of reporting concordantly on physical (OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 0.97, 3.51, p = 0.09) and economic (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 0.96, 3.46, p = 0.09) IPV at endline compared to baseline. Conclusion In communities that do not link IPV to fault, men may not report IPV because they do not recognize their behaviors as abuse. Including a preamble that defines IPV in a survey questionnaire can improve men’s reporting of IPV.
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DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1460333
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