The prevalence of physical domestic violence -violence against women perpetrated by husbandsis staggeringly high across the Indian subcontinent. Although gender-based power dynamics are thought to underlie women's vulnerability, relatively little is known about risk and protective factors. This prospective study in southern India examined the association between key economic aspects of gender-based power, namely spousal employment status, and physical domestic violence. In 2005-2006, 744 married women, aged 16-25, residing in low-income communities in Bangalore, India were enrolled in the study. Data were collected at enrolment, 12 and 24 months. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the prospective association between women's employment status, their perceptions of their husband's employment stability, and domestic violence. Women who were unemployed at one visit and began employment by the next visit had an 80% higher odds of violence, as compared to women who maintained their unemployed status. Similarly, women whose husbands had stable employment at one visit and newly had difficulty with employment had 1.7 times the odds of violence, as compared to women whose husbands maintained their stable employment. To our knowledge, this study is the first from a developing country to confirm that changes in spousal employment status are associated with subsequent changes in violence risk. It points to the complex challenges of violence prevention, including the need for Correspondence to: Suneeta Krishnan, suneeta.krishnan@gmail.com. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access

A growing body of literature has documented the global prevalence of domestic violence against women of reproductive age as well as the association between violence and an array of adverse reproductive, psychosocial, and child health outcomes. However, there is a dearth of research on domestic violence prevention interventions in the peer-reviewed literature to guide program planning and policy-making efforts. In this article, the authors describe the development and assessment of the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of an intergenerational women's empowerment-based intervention to mitigate domestic violence and related adverse health outcomes in low-income urban communities in Southern India.

This study examined the impact of a health promoting television program series on health knowledge and the key factors of the health belief model (HBM) that have led people to engage in healthy behavior (exercising, losing weight, changing eating habits, and not smoking/quitting smoking). Using data from a posttest comparison field study with 15) viewers and 146 nonviewers in Poland, we found that hierarchical regression analysis showed stronger support for the HBM factors of efficacy, susceptibility, seriousness, and salience in their contribution toward health behavior among television viewers compared with nonviewers. Cues to action variables (including television viewing) and health knowledge boosted efficacy among viewers. Without the advantage of receiving health information from the television series, nonviewers relied on their basic disease fears on one hand, and interest in good health on the other to take steps toward becoming healthier. A health promoting television series can increase health knowledge and enhance health beliefs, which in turn contribute to healthy behaviors.

Various attempts have been made in India with respect to decentralization, most significantly the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India (1993) which provided the necessary legal framework for decentralization to take place. However, the outcome has been mixed: an evaluation of the impact of decentralization in the health sector found virtually no change in health system performance and access to health services in terms of availability of health personnel or improvement in various health indicators, such as Infant Mortality Rates or Maternal Mortality Ratio. Subsequently, there has been a conscious effort under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)-launched in 2005-to promote decentralization of funds, functions and functionaries to lower levels of government; and Karnataka had a head-start since devolution of all 29 functions prescribed by the 73rd Amendment had already taken place in the state by the late 1990s. This study presents the findings of an on-going research effort to build empirical evidence on decentralization in the health sector and its impact on system performance. The focus here is on analyzing the responses of health personnel at the district level and below on their perceived 'Decision Space'-the range of choice or autonomy they see themselves as having along a series of functional dimensions. Overall, the data indicate that there is a substantial gap between the spirit of the NRHM guidelines on decentralization and the actual implementation on the ground. There is a need for substantial capacity building at all levels of the health system to genuinely empower functionaries, particularly at the district level, in order to translate the benefits of decentralization into reality.