World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health WHO Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence -overview- Henrica A.F.M. Jansen, WHO UNECE Work Session on Gender Statistics, Geneva, October 2004

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health What this talk is about Who is involved and where Study objectives Study design Special ethical and safety measures Structure of questionnaire Interviewer training Some lessons learned

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Who is involved? Core research team –Claudia Garcia-Moreno & Henriette Jansen, WHO –Charlotte Watts, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine –Mary Ellsberg & Lori Heise, PATH (Washington D.C.) Expert Steering Committee Country teams: women’s group equal partner with research institute Local consultative committees

Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence - Participating & Parallel Studies Brazil Peru Samoa Namibia Tanzania Bangladesh Thailand Japan Serbia and Montenegro New Zealand Chile China Vietnam Ethiopia Indonesia

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Country Research Teams CountryResearch InstitutionNGO partners Bangladesh: ICDDRB Naripokkho Brazil: University of Sao PauloFeminist Collective on Health and Sexuality SOS Corpo (Recife) Namibia:Ministry of Health and SocialMultimedia Campaign on ServicesViolence against Women Peru: Universidad Nacional Centro de la Mujer Flora Cayetano Heredia Tristan Tanzania: Muhimbili College ofWomen’s Research & Medical Sciences Documentation Project Thailand: Mahidol University Foundation for Women Japan: National Institute of Population & Social Security Research

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Estimates of prevalence of violence against women Associations between partner violence and health variables Risk and protective factors for domestic violence against women Strategies used by women who experience domestic violence Objectives

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Develop and test new instruments for measuring violence cross-culturally Increase national capacity amongst researchers and women’s organizations working on violence Increase sensitivity to violence among researchers, policy-makers and health providers Promote ethically sound research Additional Objectives

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health WHO VAW Study Study Design Formative qualitative research Quantitative household survey of women years of age Two sites per country: approx women per site All participants provided with information about sources of support; follow up support offered

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health WHO VAW Study Ethical and safety recommendations Prioritise women’s safety Protect confidentiality: essential to ensure women’s safety and data quality Selection and specialised training and on-going support for research team Take actions to reduce any possible distress to participants

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health

Women’s Health and Life Events Questionnaire Section 1: Respondent and her community Section 2: General Health Section 3: Reproductive health Section 4: Children Section 5: Current or most recent partner Section 6: Attitudes toward gender roles Section 7: Respondent and her partner Section 8: Injuries Section 9: Impact and coping Section 10: Other experiences Section 11: Financial autonomy Section 12: Completion of the interview

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Interviewer Training Thailand

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Three-week Interviewer Training Provide interviewers with an opportunity to deal with own experiences of abuse Include opportunities to interview and talk with women who have experienced abuse Develop skills to minimize distress Train more interviewers than necessary and hire only the most effective

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Importance of special interviewer training Cross country comparability and data quality Interviewers who participated in full training: –Significant higher response rate –Significant higher disclosure rate –Significant higher respondent satisfaction Protecting safety of respondents and interviewers Increases the impact of the study

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Research on VAW: Points to take home A population based survey on violence against women can be done ethically and safely Women are willing to share experiences with trained and empathetic interviewers Build in mechanisms to ensure findings are owned by a wide range of stakeholders Research can be an intervention

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health “I learned a lot from the beginning of the training, till the end of the survey. The survey opened wounds, but I had to learn to face it and cope with it. The respondents really needed and enjoyed this experience… My career path changed, … because I could do something which can make a difference…” Interviewer from Namibia

World Health Organization Gender and Women’s Health Thank you!