There is a growing need for interventions that reduce both violence against children and intimate partner violence in low- and middle-income countries. Few parenting interventions deliberately address this link, so we tested the feasibility of a 16-session group-based parenting program, Parenting for Respectability, in semi-rural Ugandan communities. This pre-post study involved parents and their children (N = 484 parents; 212 children). Pre-post comparisons found large effects for parent-reported reduced harsh parenting, with an overall reduction of 26%. Session attendees reported higher reductions than non-attendees, and male caregivers reported higher reductions than female caregivers. Children also reported reduced harsh parenting by attending fathers and mothers, with reductions ranging between 27% to 29%. Spousal violence reduced by 27%, and both parents and children reported reduced dysfunctional parent relationships, with reductions ranging between 22% to 28%. Parents who attended more than 50% of the program reported greater effects on reduced dysfunctional relationships than those who attended less than half of the program. All secondary outcomes improved, with improvements ranging between 6% and 28%. These results suggest the importance of more rigorous testing to determine program effectiveness.
