Survivors’ Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence and Shelter Utilization During COVID-19

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of COVID-19 on service-engaged female survivors of IPV and makes recommendations for service providers based on these survivors’ voices. The researchers adopted an exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative approach to inquiry due to the novelty of the research questions during the early days of the COVID-19 in March 2020. Semi-structured interviews with service-engaged survivors were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding processes. Two categories arose from our qualitative questions. The first category, related to experiences with service providers, included the themes of varying levels of support and isolation. Within the theme of isolation, survivors discussed both positive and negative aspects of isolation. The second category refers to the impact of COVID-19 on survivors’ daily lives and focused on the theme of escalation. The theme of escalation had two subthemes 1) escalation of life-generated risks and 2) escalation of partner-generated risks. Given that the pandemic will continue until vaccines are fully distributed and that future public health emergencies may mirror many of the challenges identified in the current context, survivors residing at home will continue to need services, and agencies will continue to need additional resources to provide them. Therefore, we discuss recommendations that can have a bearing on services offered in the future.

Increases in Intimate Partner Violence During COVID-19: Prevalence and Correlates

“…For partners who may have already been abusive or were already inclined to be abusive, pandemic-related stressors and increased access to partners during lockdown may have triggered more severe abuse. This finding is aligned with qualitative reports from survivors that existing abuse was exacerbated by the COVID pandemic ( Ravi et al., 2021 ). The COVID pandemic may not have significantly increased the prevalence or incidence of abuse victimization by increasing the number of individuals who would perpetrate abuse when they were otherwise not likely to have become abusive.…”

Public views of and reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a qualitative study with diverse ethnicities

“…General practitioners like our participants have also expressed their concern about ‘collateral damage’ resulting from routine care being postponed or limited due to COVID-1924 25; this effect is likely to be greater in ethnic minorities who already have poorer healthcare access. The social isolation and closure of services exacerbated social and mental health problems across all ethnic groups in our study and others,23 26 but especially affected marginalised, vulnerable groups,27 28 ‘non-whites’, younger adults (aged 18–30) and women 29. The concerns of participants about increased risk of maternal mortality in ethnic minority women have been confirmed 30 31.…”

Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence During Confinement: Characteristics by Age and Sex

“…In accordance with the study by Ravi et al (2021) on the experiences of women survivors of gender-based violence in the context of COVID-19, the authors state that though their article is not focused on children, future research on this population is necessary ( Ravi et al, 2021 ). Thus, this population group is our target in this study; given the scarcity of evidence on this risk population ( Martínez-Pérez et al, 2020 ).…”