Abstract
About one third of families in Colombia live in insufficient houses with inadequate floors or no access to water in the kitchen (ECV, 2021) creating stress and tensions within the household. Moreover, there is a high prevalence of domestic violence with a high number of cases reported each year and around one in five children being exposed to corporal punishment (Cuartas et al., 2019). While inadequate housing is not the only reason behind domestic violence, housing improvements have been shown to improve overall household mental well-being (Curl et al., 2015; Devoto et al., 2012) and depression (Cattaneo et al., 2009) and to overall reduce stress, potentially, also decreasing domestic violence.
This project aims to measure the impact of the ‘Construyendo Hogares Saludables’ programme implemented by Cementos ARGOS consisting of training and subsidies for homeowners to make improvements of their houses. Conducting a randomized control trial with roughly 1200 households in 78 sections of the cities of Cali, Medellin, and Barranquilla, the study will analyse if better housing conditions will ease tensions and stress within households and, thus, reduce domestic violence. Additionally, the supporting effect of pledging to become a healthy, happy home on conflict resolution and, following, on stress and the prevalence on domestic violence will be evaluated.