Dataset Information

Cohort profile: intimate partner violence and mental health among women from refugee background and a comparison group of Australian-born - the WATCH cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The Women Aware with Their Children study was created because prospective data are required to accurately guide prevention programmes for intimate partner violence (IPV) and to improve the mental health and resettlement trajectories of women from refugee backgrounds in Australia.

Participants

1335 women (685 consecutively enrolled from refugee backgrounds and 650 randomly selected Australian-born) recruited during pregnancy from three public antenatal clinics in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. The mean age was 29.7 years among women from refugee backgrounds and 29.0 years among women born in the host nation. Main measures include IPV, mood, panic, post-traumatic stress disorder, disability and living difficulties.

Findings to date

Prevalence of IPV at all three time points is significantly higher for refugee-background women. The trend data showed that reported IPV rates among Australian-born women increased from 25.8% at time 1 to 30.1% at time 3, while for refugee-background women this rate declined from 44.4% at time 1 to 42.6% at time 3. Prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) at all three time points is higher for refugee-background women. MDD among Australian-born women significantly declined from 14.5% at time 1 to 9.9% at time 3, while for refugee-background women it fluctuated from 25.1% at time 1 to 17.3% at time 2 and to 19.1% at time 3.

Future plans

We are currently examining trajectories of IPV and mental disorder across four time points. Time 4 occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of the pandemic over time. Time 5 started in August 2021 and time 6 will begin approximately 12 months later. The children at time 5 are in the early school years, providing the capacity to examine behaviour, development and well-being of the index child.

SUBMITTER: Rees S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9086637 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Cohort profile: intimate partner violence and mental health among women from refugee background and a comparison group of Australian-born - the WATCH cohort study.

Rees Susan S Mohsin Mohammed M Moussa Batool B Fisher Jane J Steel Zachary Z Nadar Nawal N Hassoun Fatima F Khalil Batoul B Youssef Mariam M Krishna Yalini Y

BMJ open 20220509 5

<h4>Purpose</h4>The Women Aware with Their Children study was created because prospective data are required to accurately guide prevention programmes for intimate partner violence (IPV) and to improve the mental health and resettlement trajectories of women from refugee backgrounds in Australia.<h4>Participants</h4>1335 women (685 consecutively enrolled from refugee backgrounds and 650 randomly selected Australian-born) recruited during pregnancy from three public antenatal clinics in Sydney and ...[more]

PMID: 35534066

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Project description:Screening and response for intimate partner violence (IPV) is recommended for women in priority populations and is implemented in health services across diverse jurisdictions. Most women experiencing IPV strongly support screening, however this is untested with refugee women in resettlement contexts. Around one third of refugee women in Australia experience IPV and face multiple post-migration challenges. SAHAR (Safety and Health after Arrival) tested IPV screening using the ACTS tool, brief intervention, and referral with women accessing four settlement support services. Women attending sites during the study period were invited to participate in a three month follow up survey with participation by 321/375 women recruited (86%). Acceptability of IPV screening was assessed against (i) levels of comfort with the IPV screening questions and (ii) strength of agreement/disagreement with settlement services asking women about being frightened, controlled or hurt by their partners. Of participants who recalled the screening, 93% reported being very or moderately comfortable with being asked the questions (89% who had experienced IPV; 94% of those with no IPV identified). For all participants, 84% strongly or somewhat agreed with services asking the questions, with no significant difference in agreement between disclosing and non-disclosing groups. Those with no recall of the questions had lower overall agreement and higher disagreement than those who recalled the questions (88% and 10%). Acceptability was not associated with age, country of origin, household composition, time since arrival or number of prior service visits. Participants identified 'care shown by the worker', 'talking to someone in my own language', 'trust in the privacy of the service', and 'talking to a female worker' as the factors most important for encouraging discussion of IPV. High acceptance of IPV screening by refugee women supports consideration of implementation across settlement services, a key access point for refugee women with diverse needs.

Project description:Lifelong brain health consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) include the risk of neurodegenerative disease. Up to one-third of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime, often with TBI, yet remarkably little is known about the range of autopsy neuropathologies encountered in IPV. We report a prospectively accrued case series from a single institution, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, evaluated in partnership with the Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai, using a multimodal protocol comprising clinical history review, ex vivo imaging in a small subset, and comprehensive neuropathological assessment by established consensus protocols. Fourteen brains were obtained over 2 years from women with documented IPV (aged 3rd-8th decade; median, 4th) and complex histories including prior TBI in 6, nonfatal strangulation in 4, cerebrovascular, neurological, and/or psychiatric conditions in 13, and epilepsy in 7. At autopsy, all had TBI stigmata (old and/or recent). In addition, white matter regions vulnerable to diffuse axonal injury showed perivascular and parenchymal iron deposition and microgliosis in some subjects. Six cases had evidence of cerebrovascular disease (lacunes and/or chronic infarcts). Regarding neurodegenerative disease pathologies, Alzheimer disease neuropathologic change was present in a single case (8th decade), with no chronic traumatic encephalopathy neuropathologic change (CTE-NC) identified in any. Findings from this initial series then prompted similar exploration in an expanded case series of 70 archival IPV cases (aged 2nd-9th decade; median, 4th) accrued from multiple international institutions. In this secondary case series, we again found evidence of vascular and white matter pathologies. However, only limited neurodegenerative proteinopathies were encountered in the oldest subjects, none meeting consensus criteria for CTE-NC. These observations from this descriptive exploratory study reinforce a need to consider broad co-morbid and neuropathological substrates contributing to brain health outcomes in the context of IPV, some of which may be potentially modifiable.

Project description:BackgroundIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health issue that consists of physical, sexual, and psychological violence perpetrated by a current or former partner. Informal supporters (e.g., family and friends) of survivors are more often witness to IPV or are the first people a survivor will disclose abuse to and are more able to provide consistent ongoing support than professional services. Therefore, greater understanding of informal supporters is warranted to aid in reducing the risks experienced by survivors. This systematic review aimed to: (1) identify factors associated with either an increase or decrease in helping behaviour toward a survivor, (2), identify the most effective self-care strategies employed by informal supporters, and (3) consider the current theoretical approaches used to understand informal supporters help-giving behavioural intention.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. The search included English language articles published between 2005 and 2021 in the databases Psych Articles, Scopus, Proquest Social Services Abstracts, and Ebscohost. Studies were included if the primary research aims explored the motivators and inhibitors of helping intention or self-care strategies of adult social network members of adult IPV survivors. Two reviewers independently screened all identified articles for inclusion suitability.ResultsOne hundred and twenty articles were subjected to full text screening resulting in 31 articles being identified as meeting inclusion criteria. Synthesis of the findings identified the following three key areas associated with help-giving behavioural intentions: normative factors, individual factors, and situational factors. There were no articles identified that considered self-care of informal supporters. Of the 31 articles, 22 had a theoretical underpinning. None of the utilised theories explained all three of the identified factors of help-giving behavioural intention.ConclusionThese results are integrated into a proposed Intimate Partner Violence Model of Informal Supporter Readiness (IPV-MISR), incorporating the identified factors associated with help-giving behavioural intention. This model provides a framework for conceptualising the readiness of an informal supporter to provide adequate support to IPV survivors. The model extends existing theoretical standpoints and has utility in both practice and research.

Dataset Information

Cohort profile: intimate partner violence and mental health among women from refugee background and a comparison group of Australian-born - the WATCH cohort study.

Purpose

Participants

Findings to date

Future plans

Publications

Cohort profile: intimate partner violence and mental health among women from refugee background and a comparison group of Australian-born - the WATCH cohort study.

Similar Datasets

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