Thapa, RitaSubedi, Raj KumarPun, BinduChand, Sunita KumariThakur, Dip NarayanThapaliya, RadhikaKarki, SaritaRegmi, GorakhPandey, Vikrant2025-07-212025-07-212024https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14572/472Rita Thapa Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal Raj Kumar Subedi Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal Bindu Pun Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal Sunita Kumari Chand Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal Dip Narayan Thakur Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7445-2726 Radhika Thapaliya Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal Sarita Karki Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal Gorakh Regmi Bhaskar-Tejshree Memorial Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal Vikrant Pandey Fightback Nepal, Lalitpur, NepalBackground: The prevalence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment/ violence among children is alarmingly high in Nepal. This study aimed to measure aggregate changes in knowledge, attitude, and skills among school adolescents on gender discrimination; sexual harassment, mindfulness of breathing; and self-defense skills, with application of an integrative experiential learning modules. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was carried out among 3661 students from 8-9 grades (1880 intervention and 1781 control) in 52 community schools across the seven provinces. Pre- and post-intervention self-reported surveys were conducted among the intervention and control groups before and after intervention of 24 learning hours. We used a mixed two-way effects model to measure the changes in composite indices between pretest and posttest among both the groups. Results: We found statistically significant increment (P<0.0001) in knowledge, attitude and skills on gender norms, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, self-defense, reporting sexual harassment, legal measures and mindfulness of breathing technique among the intervention group compared to that in the control group. Conclusions: These findings, though measured immediately after the intervention, offer initial evidence that school adolescents could be empowered to prevent the risks of gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Keywords: Empowerment; gender discrimination; school-based intervention; sexual harassment; self-defense.en-USArticle