title: Creating opportunities through mentorship, parental involvement, and safe spaces (COMPASS) program: multi-country study protocol to protect girls from violence in humanitarian settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings is of urgent concern given their additional vulnerabilities to violence and unique health and well-being needs that have largely been overlooked by the humanitarian community. In order to understand what works to prevent violence against adolescent girls, a multi-component curriculum-based safe spaces program (Creating Opportunities through Mentorship, Parental involvement and Safe Spaces - COMPASS) will be implemented and evaluated. The objectives of this multi-country study are to understand the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of COMPASS programming to prevent violence against adolescent girls in diverse humanitarian settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two wait-listed cluster-randomized controlled trials are being implemented in conflict-affected communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (N = 886 girls aged 10-14 years) and in refugee camps in western Ethiopia (N = 919 girls aged 13-19 years). The intervention consists of structured facilitated sessions delivered in safe spaces by young female mentors, caregiver discussion groups, capacity-building activities with service providers, and community engagement. In Ethiopia, the research centers on the overall impact of COMPASS compared to a wait-list group. In DRC, the research objective is to understand the incremental effectiveness of the caregiver component in addition to the other COMPASS activities as compared to a wait-list group. The primary outcome is change in sexual violence. Secondary outcomes include decreased physical and emotional abuse, reduced early marriage, improved gender norms, and positive interpersonal relationships, among others. Qualitative methodologies seek to understand girls' perceptions of safety within their communities, key challenges they face, and to identify potential pathways of change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These trials will add much needed evidence for the humanitarian community to meet the unique needs of adolescent girls and to promote their safety and well-being, as well as contributing to how multi-component empowerment programming for adolescent girls could be adapted across humanitarian settings.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Clinical Trials NCT02384642 (Registered: 2/24/15) & NCT02506543 (Registered: 7/19/15).
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, 122 E 42nd St, New York City, NY, 10168, USA. kathryn.falb@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Falb
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, 3 Bloomsbury Place, London, WC1A 2QL, UK. sophie.tanner@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, 1730 M Street, NW - Suite 505, Washington DC, 20036, USA. leora.ward@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Leora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, 3 Bloomsbury Place, London, WC1A 2QL, UK. dorcas.erskine@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Dorcas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Erksine
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, 122 E 42nd St, New York City, NY, 10168, USA. eva.noble@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Noble
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, TK International Bldg. 6th Floor, Bole Rd, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. asham.assazenew@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Asham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assazenew
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. theresita.bakomere@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Theresita
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bakomere
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. Elizabeth.graybill@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Graybill
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, Nairobi i-HUB, Galana Plaza, Wing B, 4th Floor, Kilimani, Nairobi, Kenya. carmen.lowry@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lowry
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. pamela.mallinga@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mallinga
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, TK International Bldg. 6th Floor, Bole Rd, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. amy.neiman@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neiman
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, Place de la Vieille Halle aux Blés 16, 1000, Bruxelles, Belgium. catherine.poulton@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poulton
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. katie.robinette@rescue.org.
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Robinette
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th Street, Room 537, New York, NY, 10032, USA. ms2778@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Marni
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 60 Haven Avenue, B-4, Suite 432, New York, NY, 10032, USA. ls2302@cumc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stark
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000533:Altruism; D002648:Child; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008611:Mentors; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012036:Refugees; D012449:Safety; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000517:prevention & control; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult