The effect of gender norms on the association between violence and hope among girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background.Girls at early stages of adolescence are vulnerable to violence victimization in humanitarian contexts, but few studies examine factors that affect girls’ hope in these settings. We assessed attitudes toward traditional gender norms as an effect modifier of the relationship between violence exposure and future orientation in displaced girls.Methods.Secondary analysis, using multivariable regression of cross-sectional data from girls ages 10–14 in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Key variables of interest were attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV), Children's Hope Scale (CHS) score, and exposure to physical, emotional, and sexual violence within the last 12 months. Additional covariates included age, educational status, and territory.Results.The interaction of exposure to violence and attitudes toward IPV magnified the association between violence exposure and lower CHS score for physical violence (β = −0.09, p = 0.040) and unwanted sexual touching (β = −0.20, p = 0.003) among girls age 10–14, when adjusting for other covariates. The interaction of exposure to violence and attitudes toward IPV magnified the association between violence exposure and lower CHS score for forced sex (β = −0.22, p = 0.016) among girls age 13–14, when adjusting for covariates. Findings for emotional violence, any form of sexual violence, and coerced sex trended toward lower CHS scores for girls who reported higher acceptance of IPV, but did not reach significance.Conclusions.Findings support the utility of gender norms-transformative programming in increasing resilience of girls who have experienced sexual violence in humanitarian contexts.

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Intimate Partner Violence and Depression in Women in China

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260519888538 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 088626051988853 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Weiman Yuan ◽

Therese Hesketh

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Sexual Violence ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Occupational Status ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Psychological Violence ◽

Cross Sectional

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is recognized as a major public health and social problem globally, with consequences for the individual, family, and society. But there is relatively little research on IPV in China. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of different types of violence among women and to determine the risk factors and the association with depression. A cross-sectional study among women who had ever been in a relationship was conducted in six provinces across the three regions of China from July to September 2018 using a self-completion questionnaire developed for the study. The provincial capital and one rural county were purposively selected in each province. Questionnaires were distributed in hospitals and public places. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depression. Data for 2,987 women were analyzed. The prevalence of psychological, physical, and sexual violence was 77.7%, 40.2%, and 11%, respectively: 52% had experienced two or three types of violence in their life. After adjustment, risk factors for all-type IPV were low occupational status, having one child or more, living in western provinces, having an income lower than partner’s, and economic pressure. The prevalence of depression was 65.8% in women who experienced psychological violence, 69.5% for physical violence, and 75.8% for sexual violence. For psychological, physical, and sexual violence, the odds ratio for depression were 2.57 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [2.15, 3.07]), 2.07 [1.76, 2.43], and 2.26 [1.73, 2.95], respectively, after controlling for age, occupation, education attainment, and residence. There is a clear need to raise awareness about IPV and to develop approaches for prevention and management. The new Domestic Violence Law represents a step in the right direction.

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Prevalence and Risk Factors of Domestic Violence Against Women by Their Husbands in Iran

Global Journal of Health Science ◽

10.5539/gjhs.v8n5p175 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 175 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Marzieh Kargar Jahromi ◽

Safieh Jamali ◽

Afifeh Rahmanian Koshkaki ◽

Shohreh Javadpour

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Domestic Violence ◽

Sexual Violence ◽

Violence Against Women ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Emotional Abuse ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Validated Questionnaire ◽

Domestic Violence Against Women

OBJECTIVE: Domestic violence against women is a health problem. Research on domestic violence in order to clarify the relationship between the different forms of violence and health outcomes is needed. This study aimed to determine the frequency and risk factors of domestic violence in women. It also assessed the association between risk factors and psychological, physical, and sexual violence against women by their intimate partners. MATERIALS & METHODS: This cross-sectional study was done on married women 16–80 years of age living in jahrom south of Iran between August 2013 and December 2014. This research was implemented through questionnaires including the demographic characteristic. The form of partner violence including emotional abuse, physical violence and sexual violence was assessed with a validated questionnaire. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to measure the association between violence and factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of physical, sexual and emotional domestic violence was respectively 16.4%, 18.6% and 44.4%.and was associated with Age (p=0.002), Husband’s Age (p=0.001), Length of marriage (p=0.002), Woman's low educational level women's education (OR=4.67 95%.CI=1.97-11.07), husband's low education (OR=9.22 95%. CI=0.69-12.16), were the most important risk factors for violence. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of physical, emotional or sexual violence was very high. Men's violence against women in intimate relationships is commonly occurring in Iran. Considering the factors contributing to violence against women, raising the level of education of men and women is one of the ways to prevent violence.

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What determines violent behavior in men? Predicting physical, psychological and sexual violent offending based on classification and regression tree analysis.

10.31234/osf.io/kcg6z ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Delia Vanessa Leiding ◽

Franziska Kaiser ◽

Marion Steffens ◽

Andrei A. Puiu ◽

Ute Habel

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Sexual Violence ◽

Violence Exposure ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Regression Tree ◽

Exposure To Violence ◽

Tree Analysis ◽

Prevention And Intervention ◽

Regression Tree Analysis ◽

Violent Offending

Despite compelling evidence that victimization and offending co-occur, it remains unclear what types of victimization are linked to specific forms of perpetration. Here we examined the relationship between physical, psychological, and sexual violence with respect to influencing variables including mental health, risk-taking behaviors, and coping strategies. Data from 5,385 men were collected as part of an epidemiological study on violence experience. A classi-fication and regression tree analysis identified the main predictors of violence perpetration and classified violent offending into high- and low risk groups. Results indicate that violence is best predicted by previous exposure to violence and polyvictimization. Physical violence is best predicted by prior exposure to physical violence and this is further influenced by the fre-quency of and the age at which violence was experienced. Drug use was a strong predictor of physical and psychological violence. The latter is best predicted by a history of polyvictimiza-tion, the severity and the originator of violence. Sexual violence is strongly predicted by one´s sexual violence experience. Other factors such as demographic characteristics are less predic-tive. Our results may contribute to the development of early prevention and intervention ap-proaches that account for different risk factors. The significance of violence exposure suggest that intervention measures must focus on victims of early and prolonged experience of vio-lence. On the strength of the link between drug use and violence, exposure to violence should be considered in drug prevention and intervention and vice versa.

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Violence against Women in a Slum Area in Helwan, Cairo, Egypt: A Community Based Survey

Journal of Research in Health Sciences ◽

10.34172/jrhs.2020.01 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. e00466-e00466

Author(s):

Nessrin Ahmed El-Nimr ◽

Salma Mohammed Gouda ◽

Iman Mohamed Helmy Wahdan

Keyword(s):

Violence Against Women ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

Exposure To Violence ◽

Global Public Health ◽

Slum Area ◽

Psychological Violence ◽

Community Based ◽

Cross Sectional

Background: Violence against women (VAW) is a major global public health problem with serious consequences. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of VAW aged 18-45 yr in a slum area in Helwan, Cairo, to assess their knowledge and perspective regarding VAW, and to assess their help-seeking practice in response to violence. Study design: Cross-sectional design. Methods: This community based survey was carried out among 657 women in a slum area in Helwan, Cairo, Egypt in 2018. Data about the women’s knowledge about VAW, exposure to different forms of violence and their frequency, women’s perspective towards violence, and their healthcare-seeking behavior on exposure to violence were collected using an interviewing questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of exposure to at least one type of intimate partner violence (IPV) was 59.1% with psychological violence ranking 1st followed by physical violence. Most women exposed to IPV reported that they have never asked for healthcare upon exposure to violence. One third had good knowledge. Most had favorable perspective against VAW. Conclusion: Most women suffered some kind of violence. They, however, did not seek help most of the time.

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Analytical Performance of the Exacto Test HIV Self-Test: A Cross-Sectional Field Study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Open Forum Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/ofid/ofaa554 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (12) ◽

Author(s):

Serge Tonen-Wolyec ◽

Jérémie Muwonga Masidi ◽

Luc Ferdinand Kamanga Lukusa ◽

Gaetan Nsiku Dikumbwa ◽

Angèle Sarassoro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Field Study ◽

Democratic Republic ◽

Analytical Performance ◽

Viable Option ◽

Excellent Performance ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Performance Sensitivity ◽

Self Testing ◽

Republic Of The Congo ◽

Self Test

Abstract The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has begun implementing HIV self-testing to boost the first “95” of the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets by 2025. This study aims to assess the performance and usability of the Exacto Test HIV (Biosynex, Strasbourg, France) self-test in the lab and in the field. The Exacto Test HIV self-test demonstrated high virological performance (sensitivity, 99.6%; specificity, 100%) in the lab and in the field in the hand of untrained users (sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 98.9%). Taken together, the excellent performance and usability characteristics of the Exacto Test HIV (Biosynex) self-test make the kit a viable option for HIV self-testing in the DRC.

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Empowerment and IPV in Married Women of Reproductive Age: Evidence from Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2017–2018

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520980380 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052098038

Author(s):

Mohammad Vaqas Ali ◽

Jawad Tariq

Keyword(s):

Sexual Violence ◽

Health Survey ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Secondary Analysis ◽

Married Women ◽

Reproductive Age ◽

Women Empowerment ◽

Women Of Reproductive Age ◽

Forms Of Violence

The study was an attempt to identify demographic, household, and women empowerment factors that predicted emotional, physical, and sexual violence in ever-married women of reproductive age (15–49 years, n = 3,965) in Pakistan by performing secondary analysis on Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 2017–2018. The analysis was done using SPSS (v.22) and binary and multivariate logistic regression techniques were performed for analyses. The analysis found that 30.2% of women experienced emotional, 24.1% reported less severe physical, 6.5% experienced severe physical, and 4.3% experienced sexual violence, respectively. The multivariate analysis found that husband’s age, education, wealth, and alcohol consumption were significant predictors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Additionally, womens’ age, education, and number of children also significantly predicted IPV. With respect to empowerment variables, ownership of house was a significant predictor of less severe physical violence, ownership of property significantly predicted emotional violence, and autonomy in household purchase decisions was significantly related to severe physical violence. The control on husband’s income as a measure of empowerment significantly predicted all four types of IPV. Belief in patriarchy also turned out to be an important factor in determining emotional and less severe physical violence. The study concludes that women empowerment in household context can prevent less serious forms of violence but to hinder serious forms of violence, interventions at family and community level will be required.

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Exploring the experience of intimate partner violence in the LGBT community

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.799 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

M Papadakaki ◽

F Zioti ◽

Z N Karadimitriou ◽

M Papadopoulou

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Sexual Violence ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Childhood Victimization ◽

Psychological Violence ◽

Violence Victimization ◽

Lgbt Community ◽

Forms Of Violence

Abstract Background The study aimed at measuring the prevalence and identifying the risk factors of intimate partner violence in individuals from the LGBT community. Methods A total of 180 individuals participated in the study, both male and female, aged 18-60 years, living in the broader area of Athens, Greece. Snowball sampling was applied to identify eligible individuals and social media were employed to recruit them. The questionnaire explored the violence victimization and perpetration in their relationships, the preferred reaction to various forms of violence and the role of childhood victimization in adulthood experiences of violence. Results 72.8% were homosexual, 26.7% bisexual, 81.7 % were women with a mean age of 25.2 years (6.0 standard deviation). A total of 67.2% were subjected to verbal abuse before the age of 16, 49.4% to physical violence, 6.7% to sexual violence and 46.7% were neglected. The prevalence of violence victimization was higher than the prevalence of violence perpetration (mean 9.81 and 5.92 respectively). Psychological violence was the most common among other forms of violence, both in victimization (psychological 7.34, physical 1.66, sexual 0.81) and perpetration (psychological 4.48, physical 1.26, sexual 0.18). In hypothetical scenarios of psychological violence, the majority of participants preferred separation and discussion about boundaries as strategies to deal with the situation (56.1 and 45.0 respectively), in scenarios of physical violence they primarily preferred separation and secondarily asking a professional advice (73.3 and 20.6, respectively) and in sexual violence they primarily preferred a discussion about boundaries and secondarily separation (69.4% and 31.7% respectively). Experiences of childhood victimization (p=.006), and female gender (p=.002), were found to be associated at a statistically significant level with violent victimization in adulthood. Conclusions Further research is necessary to identify groups at risk of victimization. Key messages Preventive efforts need to take into account individual sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics that increase the risk of victimization. Experiences of victimization during childhood are highly associated with victimization in adulthood.

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Revisiting Konzo Risk Factors in Three Areas Differently Affected by Spastic Paraparesis in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo Discloses a Prominent Role of the Nutritional Status—A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13082628 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 2628

Author(s):

Marius Baguma ◽

Espoir Bwenge Malembaka ◽

Esto Bahizire ◽

Germain Zabaday Mudumbi ◽

Dieudonné Bahati Shamamba ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Nutritional Status ◽

Democratic Republic ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cyanide Poisoning ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

High Prevalence ◽

Republic Of The Congo

This comparative cross-sectional study aimed to better understand the respective contributions of protein malnutrition and cassava-derived cyanide poisoning in the development of konzo. We compared data on nutritional status and cyanide exposure of school-age adolescent konzo-diseased patients to those of non-konzo subjects of similar age from three areas in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our results show that konzo patients had a high prevalence of both wasting (54.5%) and stunting (72.7%), as well as of cyanide poisoning (81.8%). Controls from Burhinyi and those from Idjwi showed a similar profile with a low prevalence of wasting (3.3% and 6.5%, respectively) and intermediate prevalence of stunting (26.7% and 23.9%, respectively). They both had a high prevalence of cyanide poisoning (50.0% and 63.0%, respectively), similar to konzo-patients. On the other hand, controls from Bukavu showed the lowest prevalence of both risk factors, namely chronic malnutrition (12.1%) and cyanide poisoning (27.6%). In conclusion, cassava-derived cyanide poisoning does not necessarily coexist with konzo outbreaks. The only factor differentiating konzo patients from healthy individuals exposed to cyanide poisoning appeared to be their worse nutritional status. This further suggests that, besides the known role of cyanide poisoning in the pathogenesis of konzo, malnutrition may be a key factor for the disease occurrence.

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Socioeconomic Factors and Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence among Ever-Married Women in Uganda: Pathways and Actions for Multicomponent Violence Prevention Strategies

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/08862605211021976 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052110219

Author(s):

Moses Okumu ◽

Evalyne Orwenyo ◽

Thabani Nyoni ◽

Cecilia Mengo ◽

Jordan J. Steiner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Sexual Violence ◽

Socioeconomic Factors ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Wealth Index ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Married Women ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Reference Category

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a severe public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with harmful effects on the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic wellbeing of survivors and their families. In SSA, IPV is associated with mental health disorders, high-risk behaviors, and HIV vulnerability, especially among women. In Uganda, poor socioeconomic status increases women’s vulnerability to IPV. Yet there is limited evidence on the association between socioeconomic factors and IPV severity in Uganda. Our study used population-based data to (a) establish different patterns describing the severity of IPV experiences, (b) explore associations between socioeconomic factors and severity of IPV experiences among Ugandan ever-married women, and (c) examine direct and indirect pathways from socioeconomic factors to severity of IPV experiences. Data were drawn from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey’s sample of 7,536 ever-married women aged 15–49 years. A latent class analysis examined distinct patterns of IPV severity among this sample, yielding a four-class solution: low violence ( n = 5,059; 67.1%); high physical violence, low sexual violence ( n = 1,501; 19.9%); high sexual violence, moderate physical violence ( n = 535; 7.1%); and high sexual and severe physical violence ( n = 441; 5.9%). Using the low violence group as the reference category, we conducted a multinomial logistic regression that found significant associations between secondary education (a OR 2.35, 95% CI: [1.06, 5.24]), poorest on the wealth index (a OR 2.00, 95% CI: [1.13, 3.54]), and severe IPV experiences. Decision-making (a OR 0.81, 95% CI: [0.68, 0.96]) played a protective role against membership in the high sexual and physical violence class compared to the reference category. Using path analysis, we found that labor force participation partially mediated the path from wealth index and education to IPV severity. Findings indicate the need for interventions that aim to keep girls in school and target schools, communities, and media platforms to address gender norms, economic vulnerability, and comprehensive screening for multiple forms of violence.

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