Depression and Self-Rated Health Among Rural Women Who Experienced Adolescent Dating Abuse: A Mixed Methods Study

Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescent Dating Violence Victimization and Adverse Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Evidence on the outcomes of adolescent dating violence (ADV) victimization mainly derives from cross-sectional studies, which have limitations in suggesting causal relationships. Furthermore, the complexity of factors and overlapping dimensions in dating violence research, such as the forms of violence experienced, may have contributed to the variability of findings across the literature. To address these gaps and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of ADV, this study reviews findings from prospective cohort studies, with a focus on the type of violence experienced and the gender of the victim. A systematic search was conducted in nine electronic databases and additional relevant journals. Prospective longitudinal studies were included if dating violence victimization occurred during adolescence and chronologically preceded the outcomes. A quality assessment was conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. A narrative approach was used to synthesize findings. After screening 1,838 records, 14 publications met the selection criteria and were included in this review. Our findings suggest that experiencing ADV is longitudinally associated with many adverse outcomes, including higher internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors, poorer well-being, increased substance use, and increased revictimization. However, the associations are not consistently reported across studies when considering the type of ADV experienced and the gender of the victim. This review highlights the limited number of longitudinal studies examining the outcomes of ADV victimization, the unbalanced approach in investigating different forms of violence, and the lack of diverse samples examining this subject. Implications for research, policy, and practice are outlined.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Portuguese Version of the Multidimensional Scale of Dating Violence 2.0 in Young University Students

BACKGROUND

Dating violence has become a problem of social relevance with short- and long-term health consequences. Nurses are in a privileged position to detect and address this problem in health facilities and as school nurses in schools, providing health education and detecting this violence correctly.

AIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate the cross-cultural validation of the Portuguese version of the Multidimensional Scale of Dating Violence-Short (MSDV 2.0).

METHODS

A validation investigation was carried out in two phases: (1) cross-cultural adaptation of the items and content validation of the Portuguese version of MSDV 2.0 and (2) psychometric validation.

RESULTS

Phase (1): The items of the original version include a cross-cultural translation from Spanish to Portuguese and analysed by a group of experts in gender violence and by the authors of the original scale, then a back translation was made and again reviewed by the experts. Young university students also participated for face validity, and a pilot test was carried out. Phase (2): Confirmatory factor analysis was performed using the robust maximum-likelihood estimation method, which confirmed the five-dimensional structure, obtaining good fit rates (chi-square significance (χ2) = 187.860 (p < 0.0001); root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.049; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.937; Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.923). Reliability analysis indicated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha (α) = 0.88 to 0.70). Finally, scores of the Portuguese versions MSDV 2.0 were correlated, as expected, positively with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) (r = 0.36 to 0.16) and negatively with the Medical Outcomes Study Questionnaire Short Form 36, Health Survey (SF-36) (r = -0.30 to -0.14).

CONCLUSIONS

To date, it is the only instrument that measures dating violence in a multidimensional way validated in the Portuguese university context.

#WhyIDidntReport: Women Speak Out About Sexual Assault on Twitter

BACKGROUND

In September 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused then-nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. When then-U.S. President Donald Trump questioned her credibility on Twitter, sexual assault survivors began tweeting their reasons for not reporting using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. This study examined how these posts were discussed on Twitter and to what extent the tweets fit within levels of the Social Ecological Model (SEM).

METHOD

This study used quantitative content analysis to code 1,000 tweets with #WhyIDidntReport for violence type, reasons for not reporting, and SEM levels.

RESULTS

Overall, 68.7% of posts mentioned a specific reason for not reporting; of these, 24.1% referred to the perpetrator being in a position of power, 36.3% feared not being believed, and 20.6% mentioned that others invalidated the assault. In addition, 47.6% mentioned a specific form of violence. Within the SEM, 47.6% referred to individual, 52.6% to relational, 43.2% to community, and 21.7% to societal reasons for not reporting.

CONCLUSION

Reading social media content allows healthcare providers to directly discover how survivors talk about their experiences, priorities in the care environment, and how to support a patient-centered and trauma-informed approach.

IMPLICATIONS

Understanding reasons people do not report sexual assault is critical for healthcare professionals to engage patients in open, honest screening and intervention efforts.

Recipes for Prevention: An Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence Messages on Pinterest

Social media platforms such as Pinterest are often used as venues for discussing relationships, making them ideal channels for promoting healthy relationships and preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). This is particularly relevant for IPV, which has been historically understood as a personal issue and lacked support as a significant public health issue. To explore its potential as a platform for prevention, this study examines the ways in which IPV messages on Pinterest reflect public health understandings of, and approaches to, prevention, and how Pinterest users engage with these posts. We analyzed 750 Pinterest posts about IPV using the Social Ecological Model as a theoretical framework for conceptualizing framing devices. The majority of pins (82.9%) used contextually focused thematic framing, while only 8.0% used individually focused episodic framing, and 4.4% used both. The predominance of thematic framing is contrary to findings in examinations of traditional media portrayals of IPV and is likely to facilitate sharing information and education about IPV. However, posts that mention individual causal attribution and individual solution responsibility elicit more engagement than pins that do not. Overall, the Pinterest sample was more reflective of the range of IPV experiences than previous, older analyses of traditional media content, possibly indicating that the public health approach to this issue is gaining momentum. Encouragingly, the study showed increased engagement with posts that discuss psychological abuse, indicating a potentially promising transition from an emphasis on physical abuse to the neglect of psychological abuse. Although Pinterest does still show some stereotypical portrayals of IPV similar to traditional media stories, it also shows much promise for shifting the narrative around IPV in line with the current public health approach and public health professionals should be encouraged to enter the dialogue on IPV on Pinterest.

Scoring Interpersonal Violence Measures: Methodological Considerations

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal violence, such as intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and adverse childhood experiences, is a significant global health concern. A major challenge to nurses and others working in the field of interpersonal violence deals with the complexity involved in measuring interpersonal violence. Numerous validated instruments exist; however, there is no standard approach for scoring these instruments. There is also a tendency to examine different forms of violence separately, not accounting for the known co-occurrence of violence. This has led to confusion as the interpretation of results often differs depending on the specific method used.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this article is to summarize the major methods for scoring interpersonal violence measures and implications of each approach with a specific focus on co-occurrence.

METHODS

The article begins with a summary of the primary goals of measuring interpersonal violence, major methods for scoring interpersonal violence measures, along with scoring challenges. We then provide a case exemplar examining the relationship between interpersonal violence and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms to illustrate how scoring methods can affect study results and interpretation of findings.

RESULTS

Our article shows that each scoring method provides a different picture of the distribution of interpersonal violence experiences and varies regarding the ease of interpretation. Scoring methods also affect interpretation of associations between interpersonal violence and other factors, such as having statistical power to detect significant associations. Accounting for the co-occurrence is critical for making accurate inferences by identifying potential confounding interactions between different types of violence.

DISCUSSION

The application of different scoring methods leading to varying interpretations highlights the need for researchers to be purposeful when selecting a method and even applying multiple methods when possible. Recommendations are provided to assist researchers and providers when making decisions about the use of scoring methods in different contexts.

Structural violence: A concept analysis to inform nursing science and practice

This analysis is meant to elucidate the concept of structural violence and its implications for nursing science and practice. The concept of structural violence, also known as indirect violence, was first identified in the literature by peace researcher Johan Galtung. According to Galtung, structural violence broadly represents harm done to persons and groups through inequitable social, political, or economic structures. Such inequitable structures, such as systemic discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. create conditions within society that directly disadvantage and oppress members of certain groups. This oppression can inflict profound physical, psychological, and socioeconomic harm on individuals, leading to disparate health outcomes. Using techniques for developing conceptual meaning as outlined in Chinn and Kramer (2018), our analysis seeks to specify meanings and applications of structural violence for application to nursing. This analysis draws on literature from clinical, historical, and other social sciences. Databases including CINAHL, PubMed, JSTOR, and PsychInfo were explored for references to structural violence. Structural violence is readily identified in specific contexts where individuals or groups are disadvantaged by socially constructed systems, such as those of race, gender, and economic privilege. Structural violence can result in health disparities and the development of conditions that predispose individuals to health risks. Nurses must be familiar with the concept to address these issues with patients.

The Interrelations of Physical and Mental Health: Self-Rated Health, Depression, and PTSD Among Female IPV Survivors

Researchers have found that intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with low self-rated health (SRH), which is correlated with increased medication usage, and has tremendous social consequences. IPV and low SRH are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, and the current study examined the interrelations between these variables among 505 Israeli women in shelters. To assess mediation, three regressions were designed. Traumatic events, Russian ethnicity, and chronic illness all contributed to low SRH. The direct effect of depression on SRH was insignificant when PTSD entered the regression. Our findings suggest that PTSD is a more fundamental factor than depression when predicting SRH among IPV survivors.

Trauma-Informed Care Education in Baccalaureate Nursing Curricula in the United States: Applying the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials

The practice of trauma-informed care (TIC) allows nurses in any setting to identify and intervene with traumatized individuals and to create a continuum of care when forensic nursing services are needed. The purpose of this article is to suggest ways to incorporate TIC content into baccalaureate nursing programs. We begin with an overview of baccalaureate nursing curricula and common types of traumatic experience important for students to understand. We then propose specific strategies for inclusion of TIC content in baccalaureate nursing education, using the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. With a solid foundation in TIC, baccalaureate-prepared nursing students can provide effective patient care and better support forensic nursing practice. This will increase the capacity of the nursing profession in general to meet the needs of those affected by trauma, violence, and abuse.

Mental health and health-related quality of life of Chinese college students who were the victims of dating violence

PURPOSE

The aim of the study is to evaluate the mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of Chinese college students who were the victims of dating violence.

METHODS

Six hundred and fifty-two subjects were included in the data analysis. Subjects completed a structured questionnaire containing the Woman Abuse Screening tool, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF).

RESULTS

Analysis by independent t test suggested that victims of dating violence had more severe depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms and poorer HRQOL than non-victims. Multiple linear regression models found that more severe dating violence victimization was associated with more severe depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms. The mediation analysis found that after simultaneously controlling for the degree of depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms, the direct effect between dating violence severity and HRQOL, as measured by overall HRQOL and the global health, physical and environment domains of the WHOQOL-BREF, was statistically insignificant, supporting a full-mediation model. The relationship between dating violence severity and the social domain of HRQOL was partially mediated by the degree of depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Victims of dating violence had poorer mental health and HRQOL than non-victims. The study findings affirm the importance of assessing depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms in victims and the need to improve their depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms to diminish the negative effects of dating violence, which are apparent in their HRQOL.

The Health Needs of Young Women: Applying a Feminist Philosophical Lens to Nursing Science and Practice

Ongoing development of nursing science requires attention to the philosophical and theoretical bases upon which the science is built. A feminist theoretical perspective offers a useful lens for understanding the needs of both nurses and their clients. Adolescent and young adult women are an underserved and understudied population for whom nursing care can be especially beneficial. Considering the needs of this population from a philosophical perspective, through a feminist lens, is one effective means of developing nursing science approaches that contribute to and ultimately improve care for adolescent and young adult women.

Psychiatric disorders prior to dating initiation and physical dating violence before age 21: findings from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)

PURPOSE

Poor mental health is associated with teen dating violence (TDV), but whether there are specific types of psychiatric disorders that could be targeted with intervention to reduce TDV remains unknown.

METHODS

Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of psychiatric disorders that emerged prior to dating initiation with subsequent physical dating violence in a nationally representative sample from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, adjusting statistically for adverse childhood experiences.

RESULTS

In adjusted models, internalizing disorders (AOR 1.14, 95 % CI 1.04,1.25; no sex differences noted) and externalizing disorders (males: AOR 1.28, 95 % CI 1.10, 1.49; females: AOR 1.85, 95 % CI 1.55, 2.21) were associated with subsequent involvement in any physical dating violence victimization or perpetration before the age of 21. Those at greatest risk included girls with ADHD and a substance use disorder, in particular.

CONCLUSIONS

The range of psychiatric disorders associated with TDV is broader than has generally been recognized for both boys and girls. Clinical and public health prevention programs should incorporate strategies for addressing multiple pathways through which poor mental health may put adolescents at risk for TDV.