Impact of the RHANI Wives intervention on marital conflict and sexual coercion

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of the RHANI (Reducing HIV among Non-Infected) Wives intervention on marital conflict and intimate partner violence (IPV) in urban India. METHODS: A 2-armed cluster-randomized controlled trial (7 intervention, 6 control clusters) of the RHANI Wives intervention was conducted with 220 women contending with a history of IPV and/or husband's drunken behavior. Participants were surveyed at baseline and 4.5-month follow-up. Outcome measures included marital conflict (arguments with husband in past 3 months), marital IPV (physical or sexual violence from husband in past 3 months), and marital sexual coercion (husband forcing sex at last sex). Intention-to-treat logistic generalized linear mixed models were used to determine intervention impact. RESULTS: One-third (35.0%) of participants reported physical or sexual abuse from their husband in the past 3 months, and 58.6% reported that their husband was drunk in the past 30 days. Intention-to-treat analyses indicated time×treatment reductions in marital conflict (risk ratio RR 0.4; 90% confidence interval CI, 0.1-0.9; P=0.06) and marital sexual coercion (RR 0.2; 90% CI, 0.05-0.9; P=0.08), but not IPV. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest the potential utility of this intervention in reducing marital conflict and sexual coercion among women in urban India. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01592994.