Increasing disclosure of school-related gender-based violence: lessons from a systematic review of data collection methods and existing survey research.

BACKGROUND: School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) includes sexual, physical or psychological violence occurring in and around schools often perpetrated by teachers or peers. In this review, we focus on studies comparing how data collection methodologies affect children's disclosures of SRGBV. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review, searching nine databases for studies from high, middle and low-income countries using search terms related to violence, disclosure and data collection methodology. Records were initially screened by abstract and then full-texts were retrieved and data from eligible reports extracted. In this paper, we draw on results from this larger systematic review highlighting studies conducted with children which either collected data in schools or asked about violence in schools. We also describe methods compared and results of studies that were not conducted in schools, but that included children and young people. Finally, we describe how multi-country nationally representative surveys conducted in at least one low and middle-income country measure children's experiences of SRGBV. RESULTS: We screened 28,780 records, of which fourteen are included in this article. Only four studies compared data collection methodologies in schools or about violence in schools. These showed a 0 to more than 500-percent variation in the prevalence of violence measured using different data collection methodologies. An additional ten studies which were not conducted in schools, examined disclosure of violence in children and young people that was not specifically school-related. We assessed five multi-country national surveys that measured SRGBV. This limited evidence suggests that methods allowing increased anonymity (e.g. audio computer assisted self-interview, online surveys) may result in higher disclosure of violence, including SRGBV, than face-to-face interviewing. No studies included reported on safety, experiences of young people, or the costs of different methods. Multi-country national surveys used self-completion methods if completed in schools or face-to-face interviewing if completed in households, to measure SRGBV. CONCLUSION: Evidence on the impact of data collection method on SRGBV disclosure is limited, however current prevalence of SRGBV in international surveys used to monitor SDG progress may be underestimated due to data collection methods used. Further research on SRGBV should aim to test the effects of data collection methodology on the disclosure of violence. Efforts to improve the measurement of SRGBV is central to understanding the epidemiology, monitoring changes, and developing school and community-based programs as well as policies to prevent and respond to SRGBV.

Good School Toolkit-Secondary Schools to prevent violence against students: protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: No whole-school interventions which seek to reduce physical, sexual and emotional violence from peers, intimate partners and teachers have been trialled with adolescents. Here, we report a protocol for a pilot trial of the Good School Toolkit-Secondary Schools intervention, to be tested in Ugandan secondary schools. Our main objectives are to (1) refine the intervention, (2) to understand feasibility of delivery of the intervention and (3) to explore design parameters for a subsequent phase III trial. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial, with two arms and parallel assignment. Eight schools will be randomly selected from a stratified list of all eligible schools in Kampala and Wakiso Districts. We will conduct a baseline survey and endline survey 18 months after the baseline, with 960 adolescents and 200 teachers. Qualitative data and mixed methods process data collection will be conducted throughout the intervention. Proportion of staff and students reporting acceptability, understanding and implementing with fidelity will be tabulated at endline for intervention schools. Proportions of schools consenting to participation, randomisation and proportions of schools and individual participants completing the baseline and endline surveys will be described in a Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials diagram. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The ethical requirements of our project are complex. Full approvals have been received from the Mildmay Ethics Committee (0407-2019), the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (SS 6020) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (16212). Results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and shared with public bodies, policy makers, study participants and the general public in Uganda. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PACTR202009826515511.

The Epidemiology of Young People's Work and Experiences of Violence in Nine Countries: Evidence from the Violence against Children Surveys.

Globally, 497 million young people (15-24 years) are in the labour force. The current research on work and violence indicates reciprocal links across the life course. This study draws on data from 35,723 young people aged 13-24 years in the Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS) in nine countries to describe the epidemiology of work in order to explore associations between (1) current work and violence and (2) childhood violence and work in a hazardous site in young adulthood. The prevalence of past-year work among 13-24-year-olds was highest in Malawi: 82.4% among young men and 79.7% among young women. In most countries, young women were more likely to be working in family or domestic dwellings (range: 23.5-60.6%) compared to men (range: 8.0-39.0%), while men were more likely to be working on a farm. Work in a hazardous site was higher among young men compared to women in every country. Among children aged 13-17 years, we found significant positive associations between past-year work and violence among girls in three countries (aORs between 2.14 and 3.07) and boys in five countries (aORs 1.52 to 3.06). Among young people aged 18-24 years, we found significant positive associations among young women in five countries (aORs 1.46 to 2.61) and among young men in one country (aOR 2.62). Associations between childhood violence and past-year work in a hazardous site among 18-24-year-olds were significant in one country among girls and in three countries among boys. Continued efforts are needed to prevent hazardous work, improve work environments, and integrate violence prevention efforts into workplaces.

Human Pluripotent Stem Cells-Based Therapies for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Current Status and Challenges.

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by irreversible cell damage, loss of neuronal cells and limited regeneration potential of the adult nervous system. Pluripotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into the multitude of cell types that compose the central and peripheral nervous systems and so have become the major focus of cell replacement therapies for the treatment of neurological disorders. Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) and human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cells have both been extensively studied as cell therapies in a wide range of neurodegenerative disease models in rodents and non-human primates, including Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and pain. In this review, we discuss the latest progress made with stem cell therapies targeting these pathologies. We also evaluate the challenges in clinical application of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-based therapies including risk of oncogenesis and tumor formation, immune rejection and difficulty in regeneration of the heterogeneous cell types composing the central nervous system.