Perpetration of intimate partner violence among HIV positive couples: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a key public health and social concern among couples in countries globally. A systematic review was conducted to find out information that is found in relation to literature on perpetration of IPV among couples infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Objective The main objective of this study was to search for evidence of IPV among couples infected with HIV. Specifically, we reviewed literature related to the types of violence perpetrated by intimate partners who are infected with HIV and literature on their experiences.Methods The literature review was guided by the frame work of Arksey and O’Maley (2005). The search engines used in the review include PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar and was focused on perpetration of violence among HIV infected concordant or discordant couples.Results Four main categories of violence were identified in the scoping review, namely psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual victimization or abuse as well as other forms of abuse. We identified 61 literature related to the topic. Fifty-eight (58) articles were left after duplicates were removed, title and abstract screening brought the number to 9 for full article screening. Nine (9) full text studies were assessed out of the 58 and only 4 were included as they contained data on all the three categories of IPV: physical IPV, sexual IPV, and psychological IPV experienced as a result of being HIV positive. Other IPV identified included financial deprivation, prevention of the partner from meeting colleagues, and verbal abuse such as shouting and scornful looks.Conclusions The results of the systematic review showed limited studies on the perpetration of IPV among HIV infected couples. It is recommended that further studies be done on exploring experiences of couples who perpetrate IPV among HIV seroconcordant or serodiscordant infected couples.Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42017062190