"You need to be able to stand up for what is right": MTV Shuga Naija's transformative impact on youth attitudes towards sexual violence in Nigeria

Background In Nigeria, approximately one in ten women of reproductive age report experiences of sexual violence in the past year, with potentially enduring consequences. The impact of sexual violence can be particularly devastating for younger women and adolescents, who may face long-lasting physical, psychological, and social effects. To address this, MTV Shuga Naija utilizes entertainment education programming, anchored by a TV serial drama, to promote gender equality and challenge sexual violence norms and behaviors. This research examines the impact of MTV Shuga Naija on disclosure of sexual violence, stigma and victim-blaming attitudes, and greater dialogue about sexual violence. Methods This evaluation uses a panel survey of Nigerian youth aged 15-24 (574 females; 317 males) with data collected before and after the airing of MTV Shuga Naija programming. The baseline wave was conducted in person, while the endline wave was conducted via telephone due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, survey questions focused on norms, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to sexual harassment and sexual violence. We analyze changes in self-reported sexual harassment, attitudes towards victims, and discussions with adults and family members about sexual violence for those in in MTV Shuga Naija program areas relative to those in two comparator states. The analysis uses a fixed-effects, doubly robust difference-in-differences (DID) estimation strategy to improve the comparability of treatment and control groups by adjusting for observed differences, thereby allowing for more precise estimation of the causal effects of MTV Shuga Naija. Results At baseline, the majority of both males and females across all study areas reported attitudes blaming victims rather than perpetrators for experiences of sexual violence. However, results from the doubly-robust DID models reveal significant changes in these attitudes among youth in areas exposed to MTV Shuga Nija programming, as well as greater disclosure of incidents of sexual violence to interviewers, possibly due to greater awareness of what constitutes sexual violence. For example, agreement with the statement, "women who wear clothes that expose their bodies are asking to be raped," decreased by 36.6 percentage points [95% CI: -46.8pp, -26.3pp] for women and by 31.8 pp [95% CI: -45.6pp, -18.1pp] for men in areas with MTV Shuga Naija sexual violence programming relative to those in comparison areas. Similarly, acceptance of the attitude that "it is not rape if a woman does not fight back" declined by 28.3 pp [95% CI: -40.2pp, -16.4pp] for women and by 19.3 pp [95% CI: -35.6pp, -3.0pp] for men in treatment versus comparison areas. Contrary to hypotheses, respondents in comparison areas showed larger increases in the likelihood of talking with parents and family about sexual violence than respondents in areas targeted by MTV Shuga Naija, although no information was collected on the initiators, circumstances, nor content of dialogue with parents and family members, rendering difficult the interpretation of this unexpected finding. Conclusion This study provides evidence that the entertainment education approach of MTV Shuga Naija can indeed bring about significant progress in shifting attitudes and behaviors related to sexual violence. Even with this progress, however, victim-blaming norms and attitudes, as well as experiences of sexual violence among women -- and men -- are still widely prevalent. While MTV Shuga Naija has made headway in shifting the landscape surrounding this often-taboo subject in Nigeria, more work is needed to understand how communication and dialogue within families, schools, and communities, alongside greater efforts to support victims of sexual violence, can be improved and enhanced to ensure continued progress. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This work was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) through Grant No. OPP116231. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: National Health Research Committee (NHREC) approval for the study including baseline data collection was obtained on January 24, 2018 with NHREC/01/01/2007-24/01/2018. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from the Tulane University Biomedical IRB was granted on February 18, 2018. For the endline data collection, CRERD received approval from NHREC on July 9, 2020. Approval from the Tulane University Biomedical IRB was granted on August 5, 2020. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.