Cohort profile: intimate partner violence and mental health among women from refugee background and a comparison group of Australian-born - the WATCH cohort study.
BMJ Open
; 12(5): e051887, 2022 05 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2078921
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
The Women Aware with Their Children study was created because prospective data are required to accurately guide prevention programmes for intimate partner violence (IPV) and to improve the mental health and resettlement trajectories of women from refugee backgrounds in Australia.PARTICIPANTS:
1335 women (685 consecutively enrolled from refugee backgrounds and 650 randomly selected Australian-born) recruited during pregnancy from three public antenatal clinics in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. The mean age was 29.7 years among women from refugee backgrounds and 29.0 years among women born in the host nation. Main measures include IPV, mood, panic, post-traumatic stress disorder, disability and living difficulties. FINDINGS TO DATE Prevalence of IPV at all three time points is significantly higher for refugee-background women. The trend data showed that reported IPV rates among Australian-born women increased from 25.8% at time 1 to 30.1% at time 3, while for refugee-background women this rate declined from 44.4% at time 1 to 42.6% at time 3. Prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) at all three time points is higher for refugee-background women. MDD among Australian-born women significantly declined from 14.5% at time 1 to 9.9% at time 3, while for refugee-background women it fluctuated from 25.1% at time 1 to 17.3% at time 2 and to 19.1% at time 3. FUTURE PLANS We are currently examining trajectories of IPV and mental disorder across four time points. Time 4 occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of the pandemic over time. Time 5 started in August 2021 and time 6 will begin approximately 12 months later. The children at time 5 are in the early school years, providing the capacity to examine behaviour, development and well-being of the index child.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Refugees
/
Depressive Disorder, Major
/
Intimate Partner Violence
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Pregnancy
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjopen-2021-051887
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