Harmony: A Combined MI and BCT Intervention to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol Use in South India
Key facts
- Who runs it
- University of California, San Francisco
- Where
- India1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
- Trial code
- Status
- Active, not recruiting
- People taking part
- 800 people, planned
- Started
- 12 Oct 2023
- Expected to end
- 31 May 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets no study treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT)
- Record updated
- 14 July 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
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Who can take part
- married couple with both spouses age ≥18
- living within the catchment area of the PHC (primary health center)
- speaking Kannada or Hindi
- wife reporting any physical or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) in the past 12 months (note exclusion for severe IPV below)
- the husband having Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) measured by AUDIT-C (AUDIT-C ≥4)
Who cannot take part
- past year history of IPV severe enough to result in hospitalization (per an adapted version of the International Violence Against Women Survey - IVAWS), or 5) wife screens positive for any AUD (AUDIT-C >4)
- husband has severe alcohol dependency (per Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire, SADQ ≥ 31) or is at risk of severe withdrawal symptoms (Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol Scale-Revised - CIWA-AR)
- significant medical problems that will make the couple unable to participate in the intervention sessions
- cognitive problems (adapted Short-Blessed Cognitive Test score ≤7)
This trial has no sites in United States.
It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to test an intervention consisting of a combination of behavioral couples therapy and motivational interviewing to improve communication and reduce conflicts between couples and decrease harmful drinking among spouses in urban primary health centers, South India. The intervention will be delivered by nurses in primary health centers who will be supervised by a clinical psychologist.
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The main question[s] it aims to answer are:
* Do the wives of the couples in the intervention report less intimate partner violence (IPV) after 12 months, compared to wives in couples in a control group? * Do the husbands of the couples in the intervention show less alcohol consumption after 12 months, compared to husbands in couples in a control group? Husbands will participate in Motivational Interview (MI) sessions targeted at reducing their alcohol use. Husband and wife will participate in Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) targeted at improving their marital relationship.
These intervention participants will be compared to a control group who will receive only referral information for intimate partner violence and an educational session and referral for alcohol use disorder.
All participants will participate in quantitative interviews at baseline, and every three months thereafter, for a period of one year. In-depth qualitative interviews will be done with a subgroup of couples to try to understand how the intervention led to the observed outcomes.
The 2 groups in the trial
- InterventionTreatment being tested
Four sessions with husband containing standard primary care based Motivational Interviewing techniques to reduce AUD in community populations. Wife joins 4th session on relapse prevention and support. This is followed by six Behavioral Couples Therapy sessions - see intervention description for content. All sessions are weekly, 1 hour in duration, delivered in person by a trained study nurse and include role plays and assignments to practice between sessions. Comic strips and graphics reinforce lessons and skills taught throughout the sessions.
Treatment: Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT)
- Enhanced usual careNo study treatment, for comparison
For ethical reasons, to ensure participants in the control arm receive care for IPV and AUD, a) trained staff will conduct initial safety assessments for all patients; b) for IPV, wives will be referred to a legal cell at NIMHANS, a one-stop IPV center, and given information re. their options and local resources such as contact information for local organizations that can provide legal advice, counseling, and shelters; c) for AUD, participants will receive a brief educational session based on the World Health Organization's (WHO) manual for managing AUD in PHCs and referral to NIMHANS, a tertiary care mental health and addictions treatment center that has a dedicated referral system with the PHCs.
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- A Combined Motivational Interviewing and Behavioral Couples Therapy Intervention to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol Use in South India
- Publications
- Record updated
- 14 July 2026