The relationship between intimate partner violence and HIV outcomes among pregnant women living with HIV in Malawi

BackgroundIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health concern particularly in pregnancy where IPV can have negative health implications for the mother and child. Data suggest IPV disproportionately affects pregnant women living with HIV (PWLWH) compared to those without HIV. HIV-related outcomes are worse among women experiencing IPV. Despite this knowledge, there is paucity of data concerning PWLWH and IPV in Malawi, where there is a high HIV prevalence (10.6%). ObjectivesWe aim to characterize IPV amongst PWLWH in Malawi and describe its relationship to demographic characteristics, psychosocial factors, and HIV-related outcomes. MethodsThis analysis used data from the VITAL Start pilot study, which is a video-based intervention targeting retention and ART adherence amongst PWLWH in Malawi. PWLWH not on ART were recruited at antenatal clinic and given study questionnaires to assess demographics, IPV, and psychosocial factors. Questionnaires were also administered at one-month follow-up to assess outcomes related to HIV. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used to explore the risk factors associated with IPV.ResultsThirty-nine percent of participants reported ever experiencing IPV from their current partner. The majority (53%) reporting IPV experienced more than one type of violence. IPV was associated with being married (p=0.04) and depression (p<0.0001) in the univariable analysis. For women retained at one-month, IPV was associated with reporting a missed ART dose in the past month but not with adherence measured by pill count.ConclusionsA large proportion of PWLWH experienced IPV from their current partner and IPV was associated with worse self-reported ART adherence at one-month follow-up. Further evidence is needed to understand how IPV impacts PWLWH throughout postpartum and beyond. Given the detrimental impact on health outcomes among PWLWH in Malawi, additional focus on IPV is essential to identify mechanisms to prevent, screen, and manage IPV among this population.

Influence of Control Precision and Prior Collaboration Experience on Trust and Cooperation in Inter-organizational Relationships

We investigate whether prior collaboration experience affects a focal partner’s response to the precision of monitoring controls adopted by a new partner, with consequences for their goodwill trust in, and subsequent cooperation with, the new partner. We expect the partner to interpret their new partner’s adoption of precise monitoring controls as either an effort to limit their autonomy or to reduce information asymmetry. The partner’s experience with past partners is posited to determine which interpretation is salient, with negative (positive) experiences favoring the former (latter). We find that partners with an uncooperative (cooperative) experience exhibit lower (higher) goodwill trust in the new partner when controls are more precise. Further, prior experience moderates the indirect relation between the precision of monitoring controls and partner cooperation acting through goodwill trust. The results demonstrate the importance of prior experiences in the design of interfirm controls for current partner relationships.

Intimate partner violence is a barrier to antiretroviral therapy adherence among HIV-positive women: Evidence from government facilities in Kenya

Introduction Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is linked to low engagement with HIV management services and adverse clinical outcomes, including poor ART adherence. In sub-Saharan Africa, studies on pregnant/postpartum women and transactional sex workers have produced divergent evidence regarding IPV’s association with poor ART adherence. We investigate this association among a broad group of women. Methods We sampled 408 HIV-positive women receiving free ART from different types of HIV clinics at government health facilities, assessing for IPV exposure by a current partner, ART adherence rate, and other factors that affect ART adherence (e.g. education, disclosure). ART adherence rates were measured using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS); responses were dichotomised at a ≥95% cut-off. Multiple logistic regression models assessed the association between the independent variables and ART adherence. Results The participants’ mean age was 38.6 (range: 18–69 years). The majority had ever attended school (94%, n = 382), were in monogamous marriages (70%, n = 282), and had disclosed status to partners (94%, n = 380). Overall, 60% (n = 242) reported optimal ART adherence (≥ 95%) in the previous 30 days. The prevalence of IPV by the current partner was 76% (CI95 = 72–80%). Experiencing physical IPV (AOR 0.57, CI95: 0.34–0.94, p = .028), sexual IPV (AOR 0.50, CI95: 0.31–0.82, p = .005), or controlling behaviour (AOR 0.56, CI95: 0.34–0.94, p = .027) reduced the odds of achieving optimal adherence, while a higher education level and having an HIV-positive partner increased the odds. Conclusion IPV is common and is associated with suboptimal ART adherence rates among a broad group of HIV-positive women. ART programs could consider incorporating basic IPV interventions into regular clinic services to identify, monitor and support exposed women, as they might be at risk of poor ART adherence. Still, there is need for more research on how IPV affects ART adherence.

Pengembangan Usaha Kue Rumahan Uti Palembang Melalui Penerapan Marketing Mix dan Dokumen Bisnis

ABSTRACT Working as a housewife is a job that all women can do. However, being a housewife and an entrepreneur at the same time can only be done by certain women, like our current partner. Nursiati is a housewife and at the same time, she opens a home cake business that she has been doing for 12 years under the name Uti Home Cake Business. Uti Home Cake Business provides various types of cakes and street snacks. Every day, Uti’s home cake business regularly provides 6 types of street snacks and cakes specially ordered by customers. Customers come from various circles and different places in Palembang city, such as the surrounding community, foundations, schools, and government and private agencies. In carrying out its business, our partner does not have business documents and finds it difficult when they are asked for business documents such as notes, receipts, and business stamps. Our partner also never make promotions. Customers know the partner’s pastry business by word of mouth. The partner’s turnover has increased, but the increase in profit is not too high nor constant. The purpose of this community service is that the partner can apply the marketing mix properly to maximize the profit. The results obtained from this activity are our partner now has business documents, product packaging designs, brochures, and the Instagram Online application (IG) for promotion purposes. Keywords: Marketing Mix; Business Documents; Social Media; Home Industry ABSTRAK Pekerjaan sebagai ibu rumah tangga adalah merupakan pekerjaan yang dapat dilakukan oleh semua kalangan wanita. Namun menjadi seorang ibu rumah tangga sekaligus berwirausaha hanya dapat dilakukan oleh kalangan wanita tertentu saja. Seperti mitra kami saat ini ibu Nursiati adalah seorang ibu rumah tangga sekaligus membuka usaha kue rumahan yang telah ditekuninya sejak 12 tahun yang lalu dengan nama usaha Kue Rumahan Uti. Usaha kue rumahan Uti menyediakan berbagai macam jenis kue basah dan jajanan pasar. Setiap hari usaha kue rumahan Uti menyediakan kue secara rutin sebanyak 6 macam jenis kue atau jajanan pasar dan kue yang dipesan khusus oleh pelanggan. Pelanggan datang dari berbagai kalangan dan tempat yang berbeda di kota Palembang, seperti masyarakat sekitar, yayasan, sekolah, dan instansi pemerintah maupun swasta. Dalam melaksanakan usahanya, mitra tidak memiliki dokumen bisnis dan kesulitan jika diminta dokumen bisnis seperti nota, kuitansi, dan cap usaha, dan mitra juga tidak pernah melakukan promosi. Pelanggan mengetahui usaha kue mitra dari mulut ke mulut. Omzet mitra mengalami peningkatan, akan tetapi peningkatan keuntungan tidak terlalu tinggi dan bahkan tetap. Tujuan dari pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini adalah mitra dapat menerapkan marketing mix sebagaimana mestinya sehingga keuntungan yang dicapai lebih maksimal. Hasil yang diperoleh dari kegiatan ini, mitra memiliki dokumen bisnis, desain kemasan produk, brosur, dan aplikasi Online Instagram (Ig). Kata Kunci: Marketing Mix; Dokumen Bisnis; Media Sosial; Home Industri

Does imagining you never met a romantic partner boost relationship satisfaction and gratitude? A conceptual replication and extension of the effect of mentally subtracting a partner

Previous research has found that thinking about the presence of a partner in one’s life can, at least temporarily, increase relationship satisfaction. However, other studies have found that doing the opposite—thinking about the absence of a partner from one’s life (i.e., mentally subtracting a partner)—can boost relationship satisfaction. The current study is a conceptual replication and extension of a previous study demonstrating that people who imagined never meeting their current partner reported greater satisfaction than people who thought about the presence of a partner in their life or a neutral control. We expected that thinking about the absence of a partner could boost gratitude and, in turn, promote greater relationship satisfaction. However, we did not find support for the mental subtraction effect on relationship satisfaction or gratitude. That is, participants who mentally subtracted their romantic partners from their lives did not report greater relationship satisfaction or gratitude compared to participants who thought about the presence of their partner in their lives (or those in a control condition). Our study suggests that mentally subtracting positive life events may not always boost feelings of satisfaction.

What Constitutes a Family? Investigating Who Attends Family Events in Postdivorce Families

Objective: To explain whether divorced parents’ ex-partners and current partners belong to the family, and whether they both “jointly” do so. Background: It is uncertain who belongs to postdivorce families and how family boundaries become salient in family interactions. Method: We assessed whether divorced parents celebrated their child’s birthday together with their ex-partner (i.e., child’s biological parents), current partner (i.e., child’s stepparent), and jointly with both. Dutch Data (N=2,451) was analyzed using logistic regression. Results: Most parents celebrated the child’s birthday without the ex-partner, but with the current partner. One quarter celebrated with both. The ex-partners’ presence was more likely when parents’ and their current partners’ relationship with the ex-partner was good; and less likely when parents had repartnered and when the ex-partner had sole custody or additional biological or stepchildren. The presence of the current partner was more likely in case of coresidence with the biological parent and when the ex-partner had a new partner; and less likely when the ex-partner had sole custody and when parents’ relationship with the ex-partner was good. Conclusions: Child-related family rituals mostly involve the “new” stepparent rather than both biological parents. The effects of relationship quality, co-residence, repartnering and having additional biological or stepchildren highlight the importance of (step)parents’ willingness to interact with each other, structural opportunities for parent-child interactions, and parents’ shifting loyalties from their ex-partner to their new family.

Intimate partner violence and childhood illnesses in Cambodia: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAround a quarter of Cambodian women reported being victim to intimate partner violence (IPV) from their current partner. Children’s exposure to familial IPV impacts psychosocial well-being and emerging research indicates associations with physical health.ObjectiveInvestigate associations between maternal experience of IPV and common childhood illnesses in Cambodia.Design, setting, participantsAnalysis of the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (2000, 2005, 2014) using logistic regression, including 5025 children under 5 years of age whose mothers responded to questions about experience of emotional, physical and sexual violence by current partner.Main outcome measuresReport of diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection (ARI) or fever, respectively, in children in the two weeks preceding the survey.ResultsChildren of mothers with experience of any type of IPV had estimated elevated odds of diarrhoea (adjusted OR (aOR)=1.65, 95% CI 1.39 to 1.97), estimated odds of ARI (aOR=1.78, 95% CI 1.47 to 2.16) and estimated odds of fever (aOR=1.51, 95% CI 1.31 to 1.76) compared with children of mothers without reported IPV experience. Exposure to any form of IPV corresponded to an estimated 2.65 times higher odds (95% CI 2.01 to 3.51) for reporting having both diarrhoea and ARI.ConclusionsOur findings support the notion that children’s susceptibility to diarrhoea, ARI and fever may be affected by mothers’ experience of IPV, including emotional violence. Maternal and child health programmes should train healthcare professionals to identify domestic violence and children at risk, and link victims to appropriate health and legal services.

Experience and relatedness influence mating interactions in a simultaneously hermaphroditic snail, Physa gyrina

The means by which animals assess potential mates is an important issue in studies of reproductive systems. I tested whether an individual’s previous experiences and the relatedness of mates affected mating behavior in a simultaneous hermaphrodite snail, Physa gyrina. Previous work with this species showed reduced reproductive success resulting from both strong outbreeding and inbreeding. Thus, I predicted that individuals should prefer partners of intermediate relatedness. During activity trials, snails moved longer distances when exposed to chemical cues from conspecifics of lesser relatedness. Furthermore, during mating interactions, behavioral responses to relatedness varied with gender-role: male-role behaviors did not vary across relatedness treatments, while snails paired with either closely related or highly dissimilar partners increased their female-role resistance behaviors as interactions escalated. Experiences with their current partner also affected behavioral dynamics. Familiar pairs had fewer matings and longer latency times until a mating occurred than unfamiliar pairs. Snails acting in the female role also exhibited higher resistance rates in familiar pairs than in unfamiliar pairs. Previous, brief exposure to chemical cues in a non-mating context also influenced behavior during a subsequent mating interaction. Snails that were previously exposed to chemical cues from unfamiliar individuals tended to be more likely to occupy the male role following an encounter, and had significantly lower copulation frequencies and higher female-role resistance rates (i.e. were choosier) than those previously exposed to cues from familiar individuals. Overall, the results show that: 1) relatedness, past exposure to conspecific chemical cues, and experience with a current partner all influence mating behaviors in these snails; and 2) in these simultaneous hermaphrodites, an individual’s responses depend on whether it is occupying the male or female role.

Forgiveness moderates relations between psychological abuse and indicators of psychological distress among women in romantic relationships

Forgiveness frequently occurs in a relational context and is a key ingredient for restoring and maintaining intimate relationships. Yet, certain interpersonal dynamics that sometimes motivate forgiveness (e.g. abuse) have the potential to adversely affect well-being, especially when ongoing exploitation occurs. In this study, we examined the role of forgiveness in moderating relations between psychological abuse and indicators of psychological distress in a sample of community-based South African women currently in a heterosexual romantic relationship. Participants (n=515) completed measures of decisional and emotional forgiveness of their partner, psychological abuse committed by their current partner during the course of the relationship, and depression, anxiety, and stress. Latent profile analysis identified two subgroups characterised by differing levels of forgiveness: partial forgiveness (high decisional forgiveness and moderate emotional forgiveness) and complete forgiveness (high decisional and emotional forgiveness). Regression analyses revealed that the relations of psychological abuse with depression and stress, but not anxiety, were moderated by ‘forgiveness of partner’. The complete forgiveness group scored lower on depression and stress when psychological abuse was lower, but higher on each outcome when psychological abuse was higher. The findings suggest that there may be conditions in which forgiveness of partner may promote or undermine the mental health of women who experience abuse perpetrated by their current partner.

Factors associated with the severity of IPV perpetrated by substance using men towards current partner

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine frequency and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) severity perpetrated by heterosexual men receiving treatment for substance use towards a current partner in the past 12 months. Design/methodology/approach A secondary analysis of a self-reported questionnaire (n=162) completed by men receiving treatment for substance use in England and Brazil was conducted. Types of IPV perpetration (emotional, physical and/or sexual IPV) and frequency of occurrence were assessed. A five level ordinal variable for IPV perpetration severity was created: no IPV, minor; moderate, low severe and high severe. Psychological and cultural correlates of perpetration severity were explored using ordinal logistic regression. Findings Approximately four in ten men reported perpetrating IPV towards their partner in the past 12 months, one in ten reported perpetrating severe IPV (including hitting with something, kicking or beating, choking or burning, threatening with/using a weapon, sexual IPV and frequent emotional IPV) during this period. A number of correlates of perpetration severity were identified: experiencing childhood physical abuse, witnessing IPV in childhood, perpetrating IPV in previous relationships, committing violence towards another man, controlling behaviours, technology-facilitated abuse, depressive symptoms, having a substance using partner, receiving treatment for illicit drug use, hazardous drinking and poly-drug use. Research limitations/implications Despite the small sample size, small to large positive associations were observed between reporting IPV perpetration and several factors. These factors could be targeted to improve identification and assessment of IPV among men receiving treatment for substance use. Originality/value A strength of this study methodology is the use of a specific 12 months time frame for the perpetration of IPV towards current partner. The categorisation of levels of IPV perpetration based on types and frequency of violence occurrence was an additional valuable contribution of this study.