Samantha Willan
Biographic Data
| ID | 1399654 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Samantha Willan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Samantha |
| FAMILY NAME | Willan |
| SIGNATURE | WILLAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | South African Medical Research Council |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8629-887X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 44 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 31 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 44 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Understanding the Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Status Disclosure Across Health Care Settings in Eastern and Southern Africa
HIV status disclosure is an ethical obligation and, in some jurisdictions, a legal requirement that supports treatment adherence. In Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), where intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent, disclosure may have harmful consequences. The objective of this scoping review was to map the relationship between IPV and HIV disclosure across health care settings in ESA. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, peer-reviewed English-l…
Adapting the emotional dysregulation questionnaire for South Africa
Purpose: Emotional dysregulation is an important aspect of psychopathology, especially borderline personality disorder, and is prevalent in populations exposed to multiple traumas, like South Africa. We describe adaptation of the emotional dysregulation questionnaire (EDQ) for South Africa and its psychometric performance. Methods: We enrolled 58 ethnically-diverse women, who had experienced severe intimate partner violence, in eight group discus…
Attempted Femicide
Purpose Women often do not recognize when they experience attempted femicide, so another way of measuring it is needed for research. We examined narrative accounts of femicide attempts, and analysed data to determine whether we could systematically expand the definition of attempted femicide, for the purposes of research. Methods We recruited a non-probability sample of 3742 women into the Fedisa ModikologoStudy. They were 18–45 years and had exp…
Group-based Self-Help Plus, Problem Management Plus and pre-exposure prophylaxis to improve mental health and reduce HIV risk in survivors of rape in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV are highly prevalent in South Africa and are significant public health problems. Rape is a risk factor for both HIV acquisition and adverse mental health outcomes. Post-rape interventions targeting HIV and mental health are needed to mitigate risk and aid recovery. Self-Help Plus (SH+) and Problem Management Plus (PM+) are lay counsellor-facilitated, group-based mental health interventions. We adapted them for …
Impact of witnessing abuse of their mother and childhood trauma on men's perpetration of intimate partner violence in the cross-sectional UN multi-country study on men and violence in Asia and the Pac…
Trauma exposure and witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) in childhood are recognised risk factors for IPV. Using the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific dataset, we describe the pathways through which they influence adult IPV perpetration. In nine sites, from six countries, data were collected in a two-stage, randomly-selected household survey, with one man aged 18–49 years interviewed per house. 8379 intervie…
Intimate partner violence, stigma, shame self-blame and survivor realities
External stigma drives IPV-related internalised-stigma, self-blame and shame. • IPV stigma, self-blame and shame shapes survivor's responses and help-seeking. • Key drivers included other people's judgments about women's choice of partners, as well as whether she remained or left the relationship. • Decisions about whether to take or leave her children also drove stigma and shame
Self-help plus and problem management plus – a qualitative study to assess acceptability and feasibility with rape and GBV survivors in South Africa
Despite GBV survivors having high rates of PTSD and depression, well-being support is minimal • This is the first study to test a stepped mental health intervention for South African GBV survivors • SH+ and PM+ shown to be acceptable and feasible mental-health interventions for GBV survivors • Contextual adaptation of interventions is essential for acceptability, feasibility and impact
Stepping Stones and Creating Futures Plus
Marginalised young women and men in South Africa experience and perpetrate high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), shaped by their contexts and life histories. To address this, we co-developed Stepping Stones and Creating Futures Plus (SSCF+) with young women and men living in marginalised communities to reduce IPV, strengthen livelihoods and improve mental health. We assessed the intervention’s feasibility, acceptability and potential imp…
Co-designing the disability awareness toolkit for disability-inclusive and accessible health and post-GBV clinical services in South Africa
The DAT's evolution highlights the power of co-design in addressing healthcare inequalities. It demonstrates how inclusive, locally grounded, and flexible design processes can produce meaningful quality assurance tools that reflect the diverse realities of service users and providers in unequal contexts
South African rape survivors’ expressions of shame, self-blame and internalized-stigma
Post-rape research and support often focuses on external stigma, yet many rape survivors experience appreciable shame, self-blame and internalized-stigma. Despite a growing literature describing the impact of these feelings on survivors' emotional wellbeing, there has been little research on this in South Africa, where an average of 40,000 rape cases are reported annually. To strengthen our understanding of female rape survivors' experiences and …
Livelihoods of young women with and without disabilities in KwaZulu-Natal during Covid-19
This paper focuses on young women with and without disabilities and provides insight into the similarities and differences in their experiences
Couples, alcohol use and experience of intimate partner violence among young women in urban informal settlements in Durban, South Africa
Alcohol is recognized as a driver of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and experience, but relatively little research has focused on the role of couples' drinking patterns, nor pathways between alcohol and violence. We draw on data collected among young (18-30 year old) people living in informal settlements who self-selected to enroll in an intervention trial to reduce IPV in Durban, South Africa to understand these dynamics. Between S…
Challenges and opportunities in coproduction
Coproduction is widely recognised as essential to the development of effective and sustainable complex health interventions. Through involving potential end users in the design of interventions, coproduction provides a means of challenging power relations and ensuring the intervention being implemented accurately reflects lived experiences. Yet, how do we ensure that coproduction delivers on this promise? What methods or techniques can we use to …
Impact of South Africa’s April 2022 floods on women and men’s lives and gender relations in low-income communities
In 2022, South Africa faced devastating flooding which resulted in the loss of at least 425 lives and widescale destruction of property. Using qualitative methods, we describe the gendered impact of the floods on homes and lives of women and men from very low-income housing areas. We conducted 16 in-depth interviews with women, and eight single-sex narrative group discussions and with 35 women and 15 men from flood-affected areas. The women were …
Assessing risk factors and health impacts across different forms of exchange sex among young women in informal settlements in South Africa
For women in South Africa, engaging in exchange sex, including transactional sex (TS), or sex work (SW), is associated with several shared poor health outcomes; yet the practices themselves differ in meaningful ways. SW is a form of commodity exchange, while TS is grounded in gendered relationship expectations of male provision and aspects of emotional intimacy. Additionally, exchange sex types could be imagined on a "continuum of instrumentality…
Cellphones and romantic relationships of young women in urban informal settlements in South Africa
Cellphones have impacted on people's intimate sexual relationships. Using the framework of relationship formation, maintenance and ending, we explore how cellphones and attendant social media have impacted on relationships among a group of young women living in urban informal settlements in Durban, South Africa. We conducted in-depth repeat interviews with 15 women enrolled in the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures trial, as well as group discu…
Adapting Disability Research Methods and Practices During the Covid-19 Pandemic
People with disabilities are often excluded from research, which may be exacerbated during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This article provides an overview of key challenges, opportunities, and strategies for conducting disability-inclusive research during the pandemic, drawing on the experience of research teams working across ten countries on disability-focused studies. It covers adaptations that are relevant across the project lifecycle, inclu…
Learnings from the evaluation of HERrespect
Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) and workplace violence (WPV) against women are widespread globally, and we set out to establish whether an intervention on gender-transformative programming delivered to Bangladeshi garment factory workers could reduce women’s experience of IPV and WPV. We developed and tested an intervention, HERrespect and encountered considerable obstacles.Objective: To describe the challenges in program implementati…
Pathways of change
A critical component of evaluations of the effectiveness of intimate partner violence prevention programmes involves understanding pathways of change among individuals who participate in such programmes, and the intervention or contextual elements that support or hinder these. This paper draws on qualitative evaluations of four intimate partner violence prevention programmes in Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Tajikistan conducted as part of the W…
Stepping Stones and Creating Futures Intervention to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence Among Young People
PURPOSE: Young people, not in formal employment or education, face exceedingly high levels of intimate partner violence (IPV). We evaluated whether Stepping Stones and Creating Futures, compared with a wait-list control, can reduce IPV and strengthen livelihoods. METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled trial with 34 clusters in urban informal settlements in eThekwini Municipality, South Africa. Participant inclusion criteria were aged 18-30 year…
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
Background: Understanding the drivers of intimate partner violence (IPV), perpetrated by men and experienced by women, is a critical task for developing effective prevention programmes.Objectives: To provide a comprehensive assessment of the drivers of IPV.Methods: A comprehensive review of the drivers of IPV, at the end of a six-year programme of research through the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme with re…
Risk factors for alcohol and drug misuse amongst young women in informal settlements in Durban, South Africa
Alcohol and drug misuse (ADM) pose a significant disease burden globally. Yet, there remains a gap in understanding risk factors associated with women's ADM, particularly those in marginalised settings. We investigated risk factors associated with ADM amongst young women in urban informal settlements in South Africa. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 680 young women assessing associations betwe…
Did young women in South African informal settlements display increased agency after participating in the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention? A qualitative evaluation
This paper investigates the impact of the Stepping Stones Creating Futures (SSCF) intervention on young women in informal settlements in eThekwini, South Africa. Specifically, whether following participation in the intervention the young women experienced a reduction in intimate partner violence, strengthened agency and shifted gender relations. Where changes occurred, it examines how they occurred, and barriers and enablers to change. SSCF is a …
Differential impact on men in an IPV prevention intervention
Working with men to prevent their perpetration of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence is increasingly recognised as effective. However, in any given context there are a multiplicity of masculinities, each of which has a different association with violence perpetration. There remains lack of clarity about whether such interventions impact all men and masculinities equally. We undertook a post-hoc analysis of men involved in t…
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 (78.1%) an…
Female garment workers' experiences of violence in their homes and workplaces in Bangladesh
Assessing risk factors and health impacts across different forms of exchange sex among young women in informal settlements in South Africa
For women in South Africa, engaging in exchange sex, including transactional sex (TS), or sex work (SW), is associated with several shared poor health outcomes; yet the practices themselves differ in meaningful ways. SW is a form of commodity exchange, while TS is grounded in gendered relationship expectations of male provision and aspects of emotional intimacy. Additionally, exchange sex types could be imagined on a "continuum of instrumentality…
Did young women in South African informal settlements display increased agency after participating in the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention? A qualitative evaluation
This paper investigates the impact of the Stepping Stones Creating Futures (SSCF) intervention on young women in informal settlements in eThekwini, South Africa. Specifically, whether following participation in the intervention the young women experienced a reduction in intimate partner violence, strengthened agency and shifted gender relations. Where changes occurred, it examines how they occurred, and barriers and enablers to change. SSCF is a …
Workplace violence in Bangladesh's garment industry
Sexual rights but not the right to health? Lesbian and bisexual women in South Africa's National Strategic Plans on HIV and STIs
Synergies between securing sexual rights and the right to health have been pursued where there are clear public health gains to be made, such as lowering incidence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). South Africa's 1996 Constitution outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and promoted the right to health. This qualitative health policy analysis sought to understand why and how interventions to improve sexual…
Briefing
Journal Article Briefing: Recent changes in the South African government's HIV/Aids policy and its implementation Get access Samantha Willan Samantha Willan Samantha Willan is Project Director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of Natal, South Africa: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar African Affairs, Volume 103, Issue 410, January 2004, Pages 109–117,…
Couples, alcohol use and experience of intimate partner violence among young women in urban informal settlements in Durban, South Africa
Alcohol is recognized as a driver of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and experience, but relatively little research has focused on the role of couples' drinking patterns, nor pathways between alcohol and violence. We draw on data collected among young (18-30 year old) people living in informal settlements who self-selected to enroll in an intervention trial to reduce IPV in Durban, South Africa to understand these dynamics. Between S…
Differential impact on men in an IPV prevention intervention
Working with men to prevent their perpetration of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence is increasingly recognised as effective. However, in any given context there are a multiplicity of masculinities, each of which has a different association with violence perpetration. There remains lack of clarity about whether such interventions impact all men and masculinities equally. We undertook a post-hoc analysis of men involved in t…
A study on capacity development in the "What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women" programme
While there is consensus among those working to prevent violence against women and girls of the need to develop the capacity of researchers and implementers working in the global South, there is insufficient evidence on how to effectively achieve this. This article reflects on the approaches used by the What Works programme to develop capacity. It recommends that effective capacity development requires: meaningful commitment; an organic process d…
Briefing
Journal Article Briefing: Recent changes in the South African government's HIV/Aids policy and its implementation Get access Samantha Willan Samantha Willan Samantha Willan is Project Director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of Natal, South Africa: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar African Affairs, Volume 103, Issue 410, January 2004, Pages 109–117,…
More than just talk
BACKGROUND: 'Transactional sex' was regarded by the mid-1990s as an important determinant of HIV transmission, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Little attention has been paid to what the terms used to denote transactional sex suggest about how it is understood. This study provides a nuanced set of descriptions of the meaning of transactional sex in three settings. Furthermore, we discuss how discourses around transactional sex suggest linkages…
The inclusion of women, girls and gender equality in National Strategic Plans for HIV and Aids in southern and eastern Africa
The global HIV and AIDS epidemics disproportionately affect women, particularly young women in southern and eastern Africa. UNAIDS, amongst other actors, has singled out National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS (NSPs) as a critical platform for ensuring that women and girls are meaningfully included in national HIV and AIDS responses. Despite this, there is little evidence as to how or whether NSPs integrate responses to women and girls. Using a…
Jobs, food, taxis and journals
This paper seeks to refocus debates on structural interventions away from 'assessing' their effectiveness towards understanding processes around how such interventions are implemented. Implementation Science is focused on understanding potential challenges of translating interventions from highly controlled conditions into 'real life' settings. Using the case study of Stepping Stones and Creating Futures a structural and behavioural intervention …
Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention
These findings are very positive for an exploratory study and indicate that the Creating Futures/Stepping Stones intervention has potential for impact in these difficult areas with young men and women. Further evaluation is needed
Interventions targeting sexual and reproductive health and rights outcomes of young people living with HIV
There have been a limited number of evaluated interventions to strengthen SRH of YPLWH in SSA, and gaps exist in addressing the SRHR needs of YPLWH. Intervention approaches require greater scope and depth, including the need to address structural and contextual challenges
Reconstructing masculinity? A qualitative evaluation of the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures interventions in urban informal settlements in South Africa
Evidence shows the importance of working with men to reduce intimate partner violence and HIV-risk. Two claims dominate this work. The first is that interventions 'reconstruct' masculinities--these new formations of masculinity exist in opposition to existing ones and are healthier for men and less harmful for women. The second is that to be successful, such interventions need to address men's exclusion from the economy. Using a qualitative longi…
Sexual rights but not the right to health? Lesbian and bisexual women in South Africa's National Strategic Plans on HIV and STIs
Synergies between securing sexual rights and the right to health have been pursued where there are clear public health gains to be made, such as lowering incidence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). South Africa's 1996 Constitution outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and promoted the right to health. This qualitative health policy analysis sought to understand why and how interventions to improve sexual…
‘I play with the baby so that people can see that I'm a man’
There is a growing focus on men's involvement in the first 1 000 days of a child's life (i.e. conception through to two years of age). Men's involvement is understood to improve child health and as a pathway to gender equality. We sought to understand the forms of care and support men provided during the first 1 000 days of a child's life in an urban informal settlement in Durban, South Africa. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 men and 15 …
The Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention to prevent intimate partner violence and HIV-risk behaviours in Durban, South Africa
NCT03022370 . Registered 13 January 2017, retrospectively registered
Associations between poverty, mental health and substance use, gender power, and intimate partner violence amongst young (18-30) women and men in urban informal settlements in South Africa
Research suggests that poverty is a key driver of intimate partner violence (IPV), however detailed analysis suggests that this relationship is not clear, either for women's experience or men's perpetration of IPV. We explored associations between poverty and IPV using cross-sectional data from the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures cluster randomized control trial, in urban informal settlements in Durban, South Africa, with young (18-30) peopl…
Systematically excluded
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 uncon…
Gender and HIV in South Africa
Gender and HIV in South Africa: Advancing women’s health and capabilities." African Journal of AIDS Research, 17(3), pp. 291–292
The HERrespect intervention to address violence against female garment workers in Bangladesh
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03304015, retrospectively registered on October 06, 2017
Female garment workers' experiences of violence in their homes and workplaces in Bangladesh
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 (78.1%) an…
Factors associated with young people's attendance at an IPV prevention intervention in informal settlements in South Africa
Understanding factors shaping attendance at behavioural interventions is critical for programmatic planning. Through the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention trial amongst young (18-30) women and men to reduce intimate partner violence and strengthen livelihoods, we prospectively assessed factors associated with intervention attendance. Baseline data were collected between September 2015 and September 2016 among 677 women and 675 men…
Exploring young women’s constructions of love and strategies to navigate violent relationships in South African informal settlements
This paper explores young women's experiences and constructions of love-relationships and intimate partner violence in South Africa, and the role of agency in women's decisions to remain in or leave violent love-relationships. Understanding why young women stay in or leave violent love-relationships is key to developing nuanced understandings of agency and informing intimate partner violence prevention interventions. Data were collected from 15 y…
Workplace violence in Bangladesh's garment industry
A study on capacity development in the "What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women" programme
While there is consensus among those working to prevent violence against women and girls of the need to develop the capacity of researchers and implementers working in the global South, there is insufficient evidence on how to effectively achieve this. This article reflects on the approaches used by the What Works programme to develop capacity. It recommends that effective capacity development requires: meaningful commitment; an organic process d…
Stepping Stones and Creating Futures Intervention to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence Among Young People
PURPOSE: Young people, not in formal employment or education, face exceedingly high levels of intimate partner violence (IPV). We evaluated whether Stepping Stones and Creating Futures, compared with a wait-list control, can reduce IPV and strengthen livelihoods. METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled trial with 34 clusters in urban informal settlements in eThekwini Municipality, South Africa. Participant inclusion criteria were aged 18-30 year…
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
Background: Understanding the drivers of intimate partner violence (IPV), perpetrated by men and experienced by women, is a critical task for developing effective prevention programmes.Objectives: To provide a comprehensive assessment of the drivers of IPV.Methods: A comprehensive review of the drivers of IPV, at the end of a six-year programme of research through the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme with re…
Risk factors for alcohol and drug misuse amongst young women in informal settlements in Durban, South Africa
Alcohol and drug misuse (ADM) pose a significant disease burden globally. Yet, there remains a gap in understanding risk factors associated with women's ADM, particularly those in marginalised settings. We investigated risk factors associated with ADM amongst young women in urban informal settlements in South Africa. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 680 young women assessing associations betwe…
Did young women in South African informal settlements display increased agency after participating in the Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention? A qualitative evaluation
This paper investigates the impact of the Stepping Stones Creating Futures (SSCF) intervention on young women in informal settlements in eThekwini, South Africa. Specifically, whether following participation in the intervention the young women experienced a reduction in intimate partner violence, strengthened agency and shifted gender relations. Where changes occurred, it examines how they occurred, and barriers and enablers to change. SSCF is a …
Differential impact on men in an IPV prevention intervention
Working with men to prevent their perpetration of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence is increasingly recognised as effective. However, in any given context there are a multiplicity of masculinities, each of which has a different association with violence perpetration. There remains lack of clarity about whether such interventions impact all men and masculinities equally. We undertook a post-hoc analysis of men involved in t…
Medicine (30 works) · Sociology (27 works) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (23 works) · Political science (22 works) · Psychology (22 works) · Intimate Partner and Family Violence (21 works) · Environmental health (19 works) · Domestic violence (18 works) · Poison control (18 works) · Suicide prevention (18 works)