Alcoholism and Violence Treatment Program (VATU) (Zambia)
Problems addressed
Violence against women
Alcohol abuse
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
Adults (18 to 59 years)
Children (4 to 13 years)
Where the program was applied
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
Zambia
Description

This is a program to prevent intimate partner violence against women and alcohol abuse by aggressors.
The program has the following components:
1) Substance use;
2) Positive parenting;
3) Positive family relationships, conflict management, and communication skills;
4) Attitudes and beliefs about violence;
5) Mental health issues; and
6) Reduction of traumatic experiences.
The intervention is conducted in a group format with approximately six participants in each group. There are separate groups for men, women, and children. They last 10 to 14 weeks and meet for 1 to 2 hours once a week.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation showed that, after the 12-month follow-up period, women who received the intervention had a greater average reduction in episodes of intimate partner violence when compared to those in the control group, who received treatment as usual (-8.2, 95% CI -14.9 to -1.5, p = 0.02) [1].
Statistically greater reductions were also observed among men who received the program compared to those who received treatment as usual (-4.5, 95% CI -6.9 to -2.2) [1].
The study had an experimental design with a sample of 123 couples assigned to the treatment group (CETA program participants) and 125 to the control group (regular TAU-Plus program attendees) [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Murray, L. K., Kane, J. C., Glass, N., Skavenski van Wyk, S., Melendez, F., Paul, R., ... y Bolton, P. (2020). Effectiveness of the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) in reducing intimate partner violence and hazardous alcohol use in Zambia (VATU): A randomized controlled trial. PLoS medicine, 17(4), e1003056. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003056

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