Partner Violence Is Making Kiwis Sick

Women who have experienced intimate partner
violence are three times as likely to have a diagnosed
mental health condition and twice as likely to have a
chronic illness, according to new
research.

Family violence is quite literally
making New Zealanders sick, according to new research from
the University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau.

Women
who have experienced intimate partner violence are almost
three times as likely to have a diagnosed mental health
condition and almost twice as likely to have a chronic
illness, compared with those who have not experienced
intimate partner violence, according to a paper published in
leading journal JAMA
Network Open.

The researchers surveyed a
representative sample of 1464 women in three regions across
the country to gauge the prevalence of partner abuse and its
health impacts.

“This is the first time we’ve been
able to demonstrate how intimate partner violence
contributes to the burden of ill health in the country,”
says Associate Professor Janet Fanslow, key author and
violence researcher at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University
of Auckland.

Earlier research published by Dr Fanslow
showed that one in three women experience physical or sexual
violence from a partner. This figure persists, but this new
study investigated five different types of intimate partner
violence and their impact on health.

“Repeated
exposure to physical violence, sexual violence,
psychological abuse, controlling behaviour and economic
abuse substantially increases the risk of ill health for
women, in terms of both chronic physical disease, and mental
health problems,” says Dr Fanslow.

“And violence
is not happening to small proportions of women in the
population,” she says.

More than half, 794, (54.7%)
of the 1431 women surveyed, who had a current or previous
intimate partner, reported they had experienced one or more
of these types of abuse over their lifetime.

One in
five women reported three or more types of partner
violence.

There were 11 percent of women who had
experienced four or five types of abuse. These women were
four times more likely to have a diagnosed mental health
condition, such as depression, anxiety or substance
abuse.

The same group had double the risk of a chronic
health problem, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke,
diabetes, or asthma, compared with women who did not
experience violence.

Women who reported food
insecurity had the highest prevalence of intimate partner
violence at more than two thirds (69.9%).

By
ethnicity, Māori women reported the highest likelihood of
any lifetime intimate partner violence at 64.1
percent.

“It’s really important that the health
community begin to understand intimate partner violence as a
determinant of health,” Dr Fanslow says.

“People
expect healthcare providers to talk to them about smoking,
obesity and alcohol consumption, but this study shows us
that the quality of people’s relationships, whether now or
in the past, has a fundamental impact on their
health.

“So, we need healthcare professionals to be
equipped to assess for violence and abuse within
relationships and to link people into support
services.”

“This goes beyond a simple process of
referral to actively supporting people to find the type of
help that they need. Where complex problems exist, such as
violence in the presence of poor food security and mental
health problems, complex solutions are also
required”.

Dr Fanslow says that Manatū Hauora, the
Ministry of Health has developed an excellent evidence-based
violence intervention programme but has so far failed to
embed it into the health system. This research should inform
policy for Te Whatu Ora,Health New Zealand to roll out and
resource this programme.

Another paper published as
part of the same research project assessed men’s
experience of partner violence, see JAMA.

“While
men do report intimate partner violence, it is less
frequent, less severe and is not leading to significant
health effects on a population basis,” Dr Fanslow
says.

That doesn’t mean individual men are not
experiencing serious and prolonged abuse and need care, she
adds.

“In general, prevention programmes need to be
targeting men and boys’ understanding of power and control
in relationships,” she says.

Dr Fanslow would like
to see international evidence-based programmes informing
home-grown violence-prevention programmes in Aotearoa New
Zealand.

The research was funded by the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment.

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