Intimate partner violence and help-seeking – a cross-sectional study of women in Sweden

Abstract

BackgroundIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health concern with possible detrimental consequences for its victims. Studies have found prevalence rates of 15 to 71% for IPV. There is evidence that IPV exposed women perceive barriers to help-seeking and many remain undetected by care givers and authorities. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine IPV exposed women in relation to help-seeking versus non help-seeking from the social services or women’s shelters with regard to social and psychological characteristics as well as relationship with the perpetrator and type of violence exposure.MethodsTwo groups of Swedish IPV exposed women were included: non help-seekers (n = 128) were recruited through ads in newspapers, while help-seekers (n = 347) were recruited from four social service sites and twenty women’s shelters around Sweden. Participants were assessed with questionnaires regarding age, education, occupation and relation to the perpetrator as well as validated instruments measuring psychological distress, psychosocial functioning alcohol use and violence. Analyses were made using Chi2 and multivariate logistic regression.ResultsHelp-seekers had significantly more often children together with the perpetrator than non help-seekers (64% and 29% respectively) and a high association was found in the fully adjusted model (Adj. OR = 5.46 95% CI 2.99-9.97). Many women in both groups reported a poor social situation and high levels of psychological distress, although more psychological distress was associated with elevated odds for help-seeking (Adj. OR = 2.83 95% CI 1.84-4.34). No differences were found between the groups regarding violence exposure and most women in both groups had experienced severe violence from an intimate partner (95% to 98%).ConclusionsResults indicate a high problem load among women who had not contacted the social services or women’s shelters due to IPV, and that non help-seekers had similar experiences of severe IPV as help-seekers. This stresses a need to identify IPV exposed women outside specialized settings within the social services and women’s shelters. Asking about partner violence in various health and social care settings could be a feasible strategy to identify battered women and provide them with alternatives for help that ultimately could lead to a life without violence.

The impact of a referral card-based intervention on intimate partner violence, psychosocial health, help-seeking and safety behaviour during pregnancy and postpartum: a randomized controlled trial

“…the type, extent and severity of IPV that have been associated with helpseeking behaviour. Some authors argue that women experiencing more severe violence (involving the use of deadly objects or the fear for one's life) seek more help [91], while others, as demonstrated in our results, do not reveal any sign of the connection between the impact of severity and their help-seeking behaviour [92]. Socio-demographics (including age, education, socioeconomic, and marital status) and psychosocial health have also been shown to influence help-seeking behaviour [91,[93][94][95].…”

Barriers to Disclosure of Intimate Partner Violence among Female Patients Availing Services at Tertiary Care Psychiatric Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

“…These findings are similar to those reported by women in health and nonmental settings. [ 9 10 11 12 13 ] Women also feared that they would not be believed if they disclosed abuse because MHPs would focus solely on their symptoms. We also found additional barriers to disclose IPV due to stigma associated with mental illness where women perceived that MHPs may question the credibility of their disclosure of domestic violence in light of their mental illness.…”

Gender-based violence among people with disabilities is a neglected public health topic

“…Evidence indicates that GBV-related services offered to survivors by professional service providers can reduce the risk to severe and fatal violence [26], and that service providers' response is a key remedial factor in prevention of GBV recurrence among survivors [27]. Access to quality social support reduces the adverse consequences of GBV on women leading to improved health outcomes [7,[28][29][30]. However, literature shows absence of studies assessing access to support services for women with disabilities experiencing GBV [21].…”