New learnings on drivers of men's physical and/or sexual violence against their female partners, and women's experiences of this, and the implications for prevention interventions.

: Understanding the drivers of intimate partner violence (IPV), perpetrated by men and experienced by women, is a critical task for developing effective prevention programmes.: To provide a comprehensive assessment of the drivers of IPV.: A comprehensive review of the drivers of IPV, at the end of a six-year programme of research through the with reference to other important research in the field.

Are women's experiences of emotional and economic intimate partner violence associated with HIV-risk behaviour? A cross-sectional analysis of young women in informal settlements in South Africa.

Women's experiences of emotional intimate partner violence (IPV) and economic IPV are rarely considered in research on women's HIV-risk. Using cross-sectional data of young women (18-30) in Durban, South Africa, we assessed whether women's experiences of emotional IPV and economic IPV were independently associated with six HIV-risk behaviours. Amongst 680 women enrolled between September 2015 and September 2016, past year emotional IPV (78.

Systematically excluded: Young women's experiences of accessing child support grants in South Africa.

Unconditional cash transfers have risen in prominence for their potential to improve the health of the world's most marginalised and bring them into a relationship with the state. Typically, challenges to accessing grants are described in terms of technical issues such as access to documents and distance to offices. This paper explores the challenges of 30 young, poor, black South African women in accessing the Child Support Grant (CSG), an unconditional cash transfer provided by the South African government.

Enduring impact of conflict on mental health and gender-based violence perpetration in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Violence against women is often exacerbated by war, but most civilian research has investigated short term impact. We describe the conflict experiences of men and women from the general population of Bougainville Papua New Guinea, perceptions of the enduring impact of conflict, and the associations between these and the major health and development problems on the islands: mental ill-health and violence against women.

Methods: Fourteen years after the end of the decade long civil war, we conducted a household survey with a random sample of adult (n = 864) men and (n = 879) women living in Bougainville.

Understanding the Relationships between Gender Inequitable Behaviours, Childhood Trauma and Socio-Economic Status in Single and Multiple Perpetrator Rape in Rural South Africa: Structural Equation Modelling.

Background: Interventions to prevent rape perpetration must be designed to address its drivers. This paper seeks to extend understanding of drivers of single and multiple perpetrator rape (referred to here as SPR and MPR respectively) and the relationships between socio-economic status, childhood trauma, peer pressure, other masculine behaviours and rape.

Method: 1370 young men aged 15 to 26 were interviewed as part of the randomised controlled trial evaluation of Stepping Stones in the rural Eastern Cape.

The feminine ideal and transactional sex: Navigating respectability and risk in Swaziland.

Women who engage in transactional sex are not only at increased risk of HIV and intimate partner violence, but also face social risks including gossip and ostracism. These social and physical risks may be dependent on both what a woman expects and needs from her partner and how her community perceives the relationship. Gender theory suggests that some of these social risks may hinge on whether or not a woman's relationship threatens dominant masculinity.

Prevalence and risk factors for intimate partner violence among Grade 8 learners in urban South Africa: baseline analysis from the Skhokho Supporting Success cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem among adolescents. This study investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with Grade 8 girls' experience and boys' perpetration of IPV in South Africa.

Methods: Participants were interviewed using interviewer-administered questionnaires about IPV, childhood violence, bullying, gender attitudes, alcohol use and risky sexual behaviours.

'Eh! I felt I was sabotaged!': facilitators' understandings of success in a participatory HIV and IPV prevention intervention in urban South Africa.

Participatory approaches to behaviour change dominate HIV- and intimate partner violence prevention interventions. Research has identified multiple challenges in the delivery of these. In this article, we focus on how facilitators conceptualize successful facilitation and how these understandings may undermine dialogue and critical consciousness, through a case study of facilitators engaged in the delivery of Stepping Stones and Creating Futures and ten focus-group discussions held with facilitators.

Impact of exposure to intimate partner violence on CD4+ and CD8+ T cell decay in HIV infected women: longitudinal study.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor for HIV acquisition in many settings, but little is known about its impact on cellular immunity especially in HIV infected women, and if any impact differs according to the form of IPV. We tested hypotheses that exposure to IPV, non-partner rape, hunger, pregnancy, depression and substance abuse predicted change in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell count in a dataset of 103 HIV infected young women aged 15-26 enrolled in a cluster randomised controlled trial. Multiple regression models were fitted to measure rate of change in CD4 and CD8 and including terms for age, person years of CD4+/CD8+ T-cell observation, HIV positivity at baseline, and stratum.

Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention: shortened interrupted time series evaluation of a behavioural and structural health promotion and violence prevention intervention for young people in informal settlements in Durban, South Africa.

Background: Gender-based violence and HIV are highly prevalent in the harsh environment of informal settlements and reducing violence here is very challenging. The group intervention Stepping Stones has been shown to reduce men's perpetration of violence in more rural areas, but violence experienced by women in the study was not affected. Economic empowerment interventions with gender training can protect older women from violence, but microloan interventions have proved challenging with young women.

Women's experiences leaving abusive relationships: a shelter-based qualitative study.

Intimate partner violence is a worldwide problem. South Africa has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence and therefore requires effective and sustainable approaches to prevention and response. For abused women, the process of leaving an intimate partner is difficult and mired in an abundance of complex factors that influence decision making.

Perpetration of physical and sexual abuse and subsequent fathering of pregnancies among a cohort of young South African men: a longitudinal study.

Background: Young men's involvement in fathering pregnancies has been substantially neglected in unintended pregnancy research. Gender norms give men substantial power and control over sexual encounters, suggesting that understanding men's role is imperative. We tested the hypothesis that young, unmarried South African men who had perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) have a greater incidence of fathering pregnancies.

Risk factors for unplanned and unwanted teenage pregnancies occurring over two years of follow-up among a cohort of young South African women.

Background: Although teenage pregnancies in South Africa have declined, the short and longer term health and social consequences are a potential public health concern. This longitudinal study aimed to describe the range of risk and protective factors for incident unwanted and unplanned pregnancies occurring over 2 years of follow-up among a cohort of adolescent women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It also investigated the relationship between gender inequality and gender-based violence and subsequent unplanned and unwanted pregnancies among the cohort.

Early adolescent pregnancy increases risk of incident HIV infection in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: a longitudinal study.

Introduction: Adolescents having unprotected heterosexual intercourse are at risk of HIV infection and unwanted pregnancy. However, there is little evidence to indicate whether pregnancy in early adolescence increases the risk of subsequent HIV infection. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that adolescent pregnancy (aged 15 or younger) increases the risk of incident HIV infection in young South African women.

Prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among young women and men in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Purpose: There is little research on prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors among youth in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper explores factors associated with depressive symptomatology in South Africa.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of interviews with 1 415 women and 1 368 men aged 15-26 was undertaken.

Motivations for, and perceptions and experiences of participating in, a cluster randomised controlled trial of a HIV-behavioural intervention in rural South Africa.

Empirical research on ethical issues in HIV-prevention and gender-based violence research, critical for honing ethical and safety guidelines, is limited. In this paper we describe South African young people's motivations for participating in randomised controlled trial, the prevalence of negative occurrences, participation regrets and associated factors. This trial partly followed, but also deviated from, the WHO safety guidelines for research on violence against women.

Prospective study of rape perpetration by young South African men: incidence & risk factors.

Background: There has been very little prospective research on rape perpetration among men. This paper describes the incidence and risk factors for new rape and attempted rape events among young South African men in an HIV prevention trial.

Methods: We followed 1,147 men aged 15-26 years who enrolled into a cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the HIV prevention behavioural intervention Stepping Stones.

Factors associated with consistent condom use among rural young women in South Africa.

Despite high levels of awareness of HIV, condom use, particularly consistent use, is suboptimal among young South African women. This paper aims to investigate the factors associated with both any condom use and consistent use by young rural women. In this study 1204 sexually active female volunteers, aged 15-26 years, were selected using a two-stage procedure in which firstly 70 clusters were selected and thereafter up to 20 women per cluster were selected, to participate in a cluster randomised controlled trial of an HIV behavioural intervention.