Trajectories of intimate partner violence (IPV) in a primary care cohort of women with depressive symptoms

Authors:
Kelsey Hegarty University of Melbourneand Royal Women’s Hospital, Australia

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Konstancja Densley University of Melbourne, Australia

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Gail Gilchrist King’s College London, UK and University of Melbourne, Australia

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Peter Elliott University of Melbourne, Australia

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Jane Gunn University of Melbourne, Australia

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Article Category:
Research Article
Copyright:
© Centre for Gender and Violence Research University of Bristol 2023
Online Publication Date:
12 May 2022
Pages:
110–127
Publisher:
Policy Press
Volume/Issue:
Volume 7: Issue 1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1332/239868021X16481290114798
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Aims:

To assess trajectories of women’s experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) over time, and baseline risk factors and associated four-year outcomes for different trajectories.

Design:

A cohort study of 548 women with depressive symptoms, attending primary care appointments, were surveyed annually for four years. Secondary analysis was undertaken using growth mixture modelling to generate IPV trajectories. Analyses of associations of these generated classes of IPV with hypothesised baseline and four-year measures were undertaken.

Results:

At baseline, 42% (231) women experienced IPV in past 12 months. Five-class IPV trajectory model showed five groups over time: consistently ‘high IPV’ (5%, n=28), ‘some IPV’ (14%, n=77), ‘minimal IPV’ (9%, n=52), ‘decreasing IPV’ (11%, n=62), and ‘no IPV’ (60%, n=329). Baseline differences showed women in ‘high’ and ‘some’ group had more childhood abuse, low income and poor mental health compared to ‘minimal’ or ‘no IPV’ groups. At four years, ‘decreasing IPV’ group was aligned with ‘minimal/no IPV’ groups on mental health, quality of life and social support measures.

Conclusion:

Women exhibited different trajectories of IPV over time with high burden of mental health problems, except for when IPV decreases. Clinical identification of IPV and tailoring of responses to decrease exposure to IPV is warranted to reduce disease burden.

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Kelsey Hegarty University of Melbourneand Royal Women’s Hospital, Australia

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Konstancja Densley University of Melbourne, Australia

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Gail Gilchrist King’s College London, UK and University of Melbourne, Australia

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Peter Elliott University of Melbourne, Australia

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Jane Gunn University of Melbourne, Australia

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k.hegarty@unimelb.edu.au
kdensley@unimelb.edu.au
g.gilchrist@unimelb.edu.au
pelliott@unimelb.edu.au
j.gunn@unimelb.edu.au

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