Multicomponent Family Intervention in Improving Mental Wellbeing and Reducing Intimate Partner Violence Among Young Married Women
February 6, 2025 -
Our team, in partnership with WOREC, has created and successfully pilot tested an innovative intervention called MILAP, which means “unity and reconciliation” in Nepali. MILAP is a family-based intervention designed to help women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) by engaging their husbands and mothers-in-law in improving and strengthening their family relationships.
In our pilot study involving 75 participants from 25 families in Nepal, MILAP was found to be safe, practical, and effective, resulting in a substantial reduction in depression and IPV among women.
We are now aiming to conduct a large-scale 5-year study of MILAP, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) . This study will include 300 families to assess the effectiveness of MILAP, understand how it helps reduce IPV and depression, and evaluate the associated costs of delivering the intervention to prepare for scale-up.
If successful, MILAP has potential to transform lives by providing a valuable solution to reduce IPV and improve mental health of women not only in Nepal but also in other countries where women face similar challenges and live in comparable family structures.