School-based prevention of teacher and parental violence against children: Study protocol of a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Violence against children at home and at school is particularly prevalent in Africa and is associated with adverse and persistent health effects on children. The violence prevention intervention Interaction Competencies with Children - for Teachers (ICC-T) is an effective tool to reduce violence against children by fostering teachers' non-violent communication and interaction skills. To enhance these effects, in the present study, ICC-T will be extended to parents (ICC-P) aiming to increase children's experience of consistent behavior and application of non-violent discipline strategies between teachers and parents. METHODS: To investigate the effectiveness of the school-based combined implementation of ICC-T and ICC-P, a cluster-randomized controlled trial with 16 primary schools in the urban district of Morogoro in Eastern Tanzania will be conducted. Both quantitative (structured interviews) and qualitative (focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, evaluation forms) methods will be used to investigate the effects on teachers' and parents' violence against children in home and school settings. The intervention implementation will be accompanied by a comprehensive process evaluation to assess the implementation quality of and participants' engagement with ICC-T and ICC-P. Potential downstream effects of violence reduction will be investigated by assessing the children's mental health and well-being. DISCUSSION: The present study aims to provide evidence for the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the school-based combined implementation of ICC-T and ICC-P to reduce teacher and parental violence against children and contribute to children's well-being in home and school settings. TRAIL REGISTRATION: The clinical trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (ClinicalTrials.gov, 2024) under the identifier NCT06369025 (Hecker, Preventing Physical and Emotional Violence by Parents and Teachers in Public Schools in Tanzania (ICC-T/ICC-P_Tanz) (PreVio), 2024) on April 17, 2024.

No association between war-related trauma or PTSD symptom severity and epigenome-wide DNA methylation in Burundian refugees.

Background: War-related trauma is associated with varying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence rates in refugees. In PTSD development, differential DNA methylation (DNAm) levels associated with trauma exposure might be involved in risk versus resilience processes. Studies investigating DNAm profiles related to trauma exposure and PTSD among refugees remain sparse.Objective: The present epigenome-wide association study investigated associations between war-related trauma, PTSD, and altered DNAm patterns in Burundian refugee families with 110 children and their 207 female and male caregivers.Method: War-related trauma load and PTSD symptom severity were assessed in structured clinical interviews with standardised instruments. Epigenome-wide DNAm levels were quantified from buccal epithelia using the Illumina EPIC beadchip.Results: Controlling for biological confounders, no significant epigenome-wide DNAm alterations associated with trauma exposure or PTSD were identified in children or caregivers (FDRs > .05). Co-methylated positions derived as modules from weighted gene correlation network analyses were not significantly associated with either war-related trauma experience in children or caregivers or with PTSD.Conclusions: These results do not provide evidence for altered DNAm patterns associated with exposure to war-related trauma or PTSD.

The study examines an understudied population in epigenome-wide association studies.Burundian refugees' war-trauma, PTSD, and DNA methylation were studied.Epigenome-wide DNA methylation was not significantly associated with war-trauma or PTSD in the conflict-affected sample.

Reducing Violent Discipline by Teachers: a Matched Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Tanzanian Public Primary Schools.

Violent discipline in schools infringes on children's rights and is associated with harmful developmental consequences for students. This calls for effective intervention programs, particularly in countries with high prevalence of violent discipline in schools. This study tested the effectiveness of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children-for Teachers (ICC-T) in reducing violent discipline by teachers in a two-arm matched cluster-randomized controlled trial. The sample comprised teachers (n = 173, 53.7% female) and students (n = 914, 50.5% girls) from 12 public primary schools from six regions in Tanzania. Teacher physical and emotional violent discipline reported by teachers and students was assessed before and six to eight and a half months after the intervention. The schools were randomly allocated to either intervention (6; ICC-T) or control condition (6; no intervention). Teachers were not blinded. Students and research assistants conducting the follow-up assessment were blinded. A series of multivariate multilevel models revealed significant time*intervention effects on physical violent discipline reported by teachers and students and teachers' favorable attitudes towards physical violent discipline, FDRs < .05. In addition, we found a spill-over effect on peer-to-peer violence and students' externalizing, ps < .05. There were no significant time*intervention effects either on emotional violent discipline, FDRs > .05, teachers' favorable attitudes towards emotional violent discipline or on student's internalizing problems and academic performance, ps > .05. Our results provide further evidence that ICC-T may positively change teachers' violent disciplining behavior and their attitudes towards violent discipline. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03893851.

Prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is associated with altered DNA methylation in cord blood.

Prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals can interfere with development, and has been associated with social-cognitive functioning and adverse health outcomes later in life. Exposure-associated changes of DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns have been suggested as a possible mediator of this relationship. This study investigated whether prenatal low-dose exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) is associated with altered DNAm patterns across the genome in a Western urban-industrial population. In 142 mother-infant pairs from the Duisburg Birth Cohort Study, PCBs and PCDD/Fs levels were quantified from maternal blood during late pregnancy and associated with DNAm levels in cord blood using the Illumina EPIC beadchip. The epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) identified 32 significantly differentially methylated positions (DMPs) and eight differentially methylated regions (DMRs) associated with six congeners of PCB and PCDD in females or males (FDRs < 0.05). DMPs and DMRs mapped to genes involved in neurodevelopment, gene regulation, and immune functioning. Weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) showed 31 co-methylated modules (FDRs < 0.05) associated with one congener of PCDF levels in females. Results of both analytical strategies indicate that prenatal exposure to PCBs and PCDD/Fs is associated with altered DNAm of genes involved in neurodevelopment, gene expression and immune functioning. DNAm and gene expression levels of several of these genes were previously associated with EDC exposure in rodent models. Follow-up studies will clarify whether these epigenetic changes might contribute to the origin for adverse mental and health outcomes.