Effectiveness of Potential Interventions to Change Gendered Social Norms on Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in Uganda: a Causal Inference Approach.
Outcomes: Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Gendered social norms that justify wife-beating are deeply ingrained and significantly influence the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Uganda. The study shows that even if entire communities reject wife-beating, the potential reduction in IPV incidence is modest—around 10 percentage points. This underscores that while transforming social norms is necessary, it is insufficient on its own to produce substantial population-level changes in IPV without broader, integrated approaches targeting multiple levels of influence.
Objectives To evaluate whether community-level changes in gendered social norms regarding the justification of wife-beating can significantly reduce the prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual IPV among ever-married women in Uganda.
Methods The authors used 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data and applied a causal inference simulation using an imputation-based method. This four-step process involved modeling the association between neighborhood-level norms and IPV outcomes using random effects logistic regression, simulating counterfactual scenarios with different levels of norm change, and estimating population-level effects of hypothetical interventions through bootstrapping.
Intervention Details Not a real-world intervention, but a simulation study estimating the hypothetical impact of shifting community-level norms on IPV prevalence.
Results The study found that stronger community rejection of wife-beating was significantly associated with lower prevalence of physical and emotional IPV, but not sexual IPV. When simulated norms were maximally prohibitive (100% of residents rejected wife-beating), the prevalence of any form of IPV declined from 57.6% to 48.5%. Notably, changes in men’s norms alone were not significantly associated with IPV reduction, suggesting the importance of community-wide transformation, particularly including women’s attitudes.
Conclusions Programs aiming to shift gendered social norms can reduce IPV but are unlikely to yield large-scale impact on their own. Effective IPV prevention must adopt holistic, multi-level strategies that address legal, institutional, interpersonal, and societal dynamics. Interventions must also involve both men and women and address underlying power imbalances and cultural narratives that perpetuate gender-based violence.
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