Intimate Partner Violence and Women’s

Mental Health in Brazil during the

COVID-19 Pandemic
Angelica Cerveira de Baumont, Géssica Sá Oliveira, Juliana Bastos de Figueiredo,
Júlia Foschiera dos Santos, Bruna Pasqualini Genro, Luísa Fernanda Habigzang,
Gisele Gus Manfro
 Introdução

Violência por Parceiro Íntimo

Envolve questões relacionadas ao contexto cultural e ao sistema patriarcal

Assimetria de poder nas relações interpessoais --> violência contra a mulher e
deixando a mulher em um lugar de passividade nas relações sociais e sexuais.

WHO, 2014, 2021

 Introdução

Violência por Parceiro Íntimo

Any behavior by a partner or ex-partner

that causes physical, psychological or
sexual harm.

Public health problem: 27% of women are

affected by this type of violence in their
lifetime.
WHO, 2014, 2021
 Introduction
Emotional distress, depression, anxiety,
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance
abuse and even suicidal behavior are common
problems associated with IPV
(Trevillion et al, 2012; Kim e Lee, 2013; Devries et al, 2013)

IPV is associated with depression and suicide in

cross-sectional studies of women in high- and
low-income settings.
(Schraiber et al, 2010; Beydoun et al., 2012; Devries et
al., 2011, 2013)
Introduction

Bazyar et al, 2021

Introduction
Objectives

(1) to assess the prevalence of IPV, depressive

symptoms and suicidal ideation in women
living in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic;

(2) to understand if IPV is associated with the

presence of depression or suicidal ideation in
these women, considering the intersection
with factors of social vulnerability.
Methods STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional online survey conducted among Brazilian

women from July 2020 to Jun 2021.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were recruited through social media

(WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) and e-mails
sent to Women's Service Reference Center

INCLUSION AND
EXCLUSION CRITERIA

We included cisgender and transgender women residing in

Brazil, over 18 years of age. Individuals of the male gender
and under 18 years old were excluded.
Methods
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Participation was voluntary, with no monetary incentive, and the electronic informed
consent was available for each subject who agreed to participate.

The project was conducted in accordance with Brazilian current regulations and
approved by the Ethics Committee of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (CAAE:
33690420.9.0000.5327)
Methods

-THE CORONAVIRUS HEALTH IMPACT SURVEY (CRISIS)

-WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION VIOLENCE AGAINST

WOMEN (WHO-VAW)

-PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE-9 (PHQ-9)

Methods

-THE CORONAVIRUS HEALTH IMPACT SURVEY (CRISIS)

-WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION VIOLENCE AGAINST

WOMEN (WHO-VAW)

-PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE-9 (PHQ-9)

Methods

-THE CORONAVIRUS HEALTH IMPACT SURVEY (CRISIS)

-WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION VIOLENCE AGAINST

WOMEN (WHO-VAW)

-PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE-9 (PHQ-9)

Methods
DATA ANALYSIS

Prevalences of IPV, depression and suicidal ideation:

-- First wave (July to October 2020) and second wave (December 2020 to June 2021);
-- Profile of women victims of intimate partner violence;
--- Chi-square tests.

Regression analyses:
-- Univariate Poisson regression, prevalence ratios (PR), and confidence intervals (95%CI) for
each variable;
-- Any variable in the univariate model that was significant at p < 0.1 was entered in
multiple Poisson regression analyses;
-- The same significance levels were used for all steps of the multivariate models.
Results
PARTICIPANT
CHARACTERISTICS
 Results
PREVALENCE OF IPV PREVALENCE OF DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION
Figure 1. Prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in women in the first Figure 2. Prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation among women
and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. in the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001. n = 660. Depression was defined considering a Patient Health Questionnaire-9
* p < 0.05. n = 518. IPV was evaluated by the World Health Organization Violence Against Women (WHO-
(PHQ-9) cutoff of 10. Suicidal ideation was defined based on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) item 9.
VAW) questionnaire.
Results
PREVALENCE OF IPV
Results
Results
Results
Results
 Discussion

In our study, 33.3% of the women who answered the WHO-VAW questionnaire
reported having suffered IPV in the last month.

IPV was associated with depression and suicidal ideation in univariate and multivariate
analysis, proportionally to the number of violence suffered.
-- A study assessing the effect of the lockdown during pandemic on domestic violence
against women and mental health of Tunisian women reported associations of domestic
violence with higher scores of depression, anxiety, and stress (Sediri et al, 2020).
 Discussion

In our study, 8.5% of women reported experienced physical and/or sexual violence in
the last month.
-- In Brazil, a meta-analysis identified that 3.1% of women aged between 15 and 49
years had experienced physical and/or sexual IPV in the last year (Bott et al, 2019).

Most were black women, living in suburbs and with lower levels of education.
-- IPV is associated with social inequities, with a higher prevalence among black
women, with lower education levels (Yakubovich et al, 2018; Vasconcelos et al, 2021).
 Discussion

Multiple regression analyses showed a higher prevalence of depression and suicidal

ideation among women that experienced VPI, black women, and those in a situation
of food insecurity.
-- IPV is a complex phenomenon, whose risks are given by the interaction of multiple
factors at individual, relational, community, and sociocultural levels (Hardesty and Ogolsky,
2020; Gracia et al, 2021).
-- Intersectionality: multiple systems of oppression, like sexism, racism, classism,
heterosexism, etc., co-producing unique adversities (Harari and Lee, 2021).
 Discussion

Unemployment and housing insecurity were associated with depression and suicidal
ideation in univariate analysis. Also, living in suburbs and receiving a previous assistance
program were associated with depression in our univariate analysis.
-- Economic instability, expressed by unemployment, declining wages, lack of resources, and female
economic dependence, was one of the precipitating or intensifying factors of marital violence during
the COVID-19 pandemic (Silva et al, 2020).
-- Female gender and unemployment were some of risk factors associated with depression in a
systematic review on the effects of COVID-19 on psychological outcomes of the general population
(Xiong et al, 2020).

--- On the other hand, a cross-sectional survey in Ethiopia showing significant associations of IPV
with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation did not find association of violence and educational
status, employment and income (Shewangzaw Engda et al, 2022).
 Discussion

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