The impact of physical, psychological, and sexual intimate partner violence on women's mental health: depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder, state anxiety, and suicide

Objective: This study aimed to determine the impact of lifetime physical, psychological, and sexual intimate male partner violence (IPV) on the mental health of women, after controlling for the contribution of lifetime victimization. The comorbidity of depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their relation to state anxiety and suicide were also assessed. Methods: Physically/psychologically (n 75) and psychologically abused women (n 55) were compared with nonabused control women (n 52). Information about sociodemographic characteristics, lifetime victimization, and mental health status (depressive and state anxiety symptoms, PTSD, and suicide) was obtained through face-to-face structured interviews. Results: Women exposed to physical/psychological and psychological IPV had a higher incidence and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, PTSD, and thoughts of suicide than control women, with no differences between the two abused groups. The concomitance of sexual violence was associated with a higher severity of depressive symptoms in both abused groups and a higher incidence of suicide attempts in the physically/psychologically abused group. The incidence of PTSD alone was very rare, and depressive symptoms were either alone or comorbid with PTSD. The severity of state anxiety was higher in abused women with depressive symptoms or comorbidity, as was the incidence of suicidal thoughts in the physically/psychologically abused group. Lifetime victimization was not a predictor of the deterioration of mental health in this study. Conclusions: These findings indicate that psychological IPV is as detrimental as physical IPV, with the exception of effects on suicidality, which emphasizes that psychological IPV should be considered a major type of violence by all professionals involved.Este es un artículo ampliamente citado internacionalmente respeto a violencia de pareja y consecuencias en la salud de las mujeres

Coping Strategies Used by Female Victims of the Colombian Armed Conflict: The Women in the Colombian Conflict (MUCOCO) Program

The effects of armed conflict on women in post-conflict situations are an area of analysis for social disciplines. This study will analyze the situation in Colombia, currently involved in a peace restoration process. The aim is to verify the efficacy of a coping and emotion regulation program analyzing victimization as well as the coping strategies employed in response to these violent acts. The program focuses on 62 women contacted through the Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres, a nongovernmental organization. The program had a positive effect on women, reporting lower levels of posttraumatic stress, more functional coping strategies, and less use of dysfunctional strategies. All emotional cognitive and social indicators improved. Women felt emotionally better, perceiving greater social support and more trust in institutions. Survivors had more self-confidence to achieve their goals and solve their problems. The implications in a context of peace reconstruction and search for social cohesion are discussed.project (Proyectos CUD 2017) funded by the Oficina de Cooperación al Desarrollo (Development Cooperation Office) of the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (University of the Basque Country, Spain) and the University of Burgos funding for the research group SIQoL (Y133GI)

An adaptive virtual reality system for the treatment of adjustment disorder and complicated grief: 1‐year follow‐up efficacy data

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: An adaptive virtual reality system for the treatment of adjustment disorder and complicated grief: 1‐year follow‐up efficacy data, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2342. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Adjustment disorder (AD) and complicated grief (CG) are serious mental conditions that have a high prevalence and are associated with significant impairments in social and work functioning. Recently, these categories have been better specified in the new ICD‐11 proposal. Empirical research on the efficacy of treatments for these problems is scarce. This study aims to offer long‐term efficacy data from a between‐groups controlled study that compares two treatment conditions (AD‐protocol applied in a traditional way: N = 18 and the same protocol supported by virtual reality (VR); VR‐protocol applied in a traditional way: N = 18) and a waiting list (WL) control group (N = 18). Both treatment conditions resulted in statistically significant improvements on both primary and secondary outcome measures, with large effect sizes, and this improvement did not occur in the WL. These changes were maintained in both treatment conditions in the medium (6‐month) and long‐term (12‐month follow‐up). Larger effect sizes were achieved in the VR condition in the long term. Furthermore, clinically significant change estimations on the primary outcome measures showed an advantage for the VR condition This is the first controlled study to compare a traditional face‐to‐face protocol for the treatment of stress‐related disorders with the same protocol supported by VR and a WL control group

Usability, acceptability, and feasibility of two technology-based devices for mental health screening in perinatal care: A comparison of web versus app

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (web pages and apps) in mental health has boosted. However, it is unknown which of these two devices can be better in terms of feasibility and acceptability. Our aim is to compare the feasibility, usability, and user satisfaction of two devices (web vs mobile application) of an online program for perinatal depression screening called HappyMom. In total, 348 and 175 perinatal women registered into HappyMom web and app version, respectively. The assessment protocol included different biopsychosocial evaluations (twice during pregnancy and thrice in the postpartum) and a satisfaction questionnaire. Results showed that a higher percentage of women in the web sample (27.3–51.1%) responded to each assessment compared to the app sample (9.1–53.1%). A smaller proportion of women in web sample never responded to any assessments. By contrast, the percentage of women who responded to all assessments was higher in app sample (longitudinal retention sample was 4.6% of web users and 9.1% of app users). In general, high satisfaction was found in both web and app users. Our result showed that online assessment methods are feasible and acceptable by perinatal women. However, dropout rates are a real problem that urge a solution that will be discussed further in the paper. Web and App devices present different advantages and limitations. The choice of one of them must be made taking into account the study’s objective, the sample characteristics, and the dissemination possibilities

Gender, school and academic year differences among Spanish university students at high-risk for developing an eating disorder: An epidemiologic study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of the university population at high-risk of developing an eating disorder and the prevalence of unhealthy eating attitudes and behaviours amongst groups at risk; gender, school or academic year differences were also explored.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study based on self-report was used to screen university students at high-risk for an eating disorder. The sample size was of 2551 university students enrolled in 13 schools between the ages of 18 and 26 years. The instruments included: a social-demographic questionnaire, the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI), the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the Symptom Check List 90-R (SCL-90-R), and the Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). The sample design is a non-proportional stratified sample by academic year and school. The prevalence rate was estimated controlling academic year and school. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate adjusted associations between gender, school and academic year.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Female students presented unhealthy weight-control behaviours as dieting, laxatives use or self-induced vomiting to lose weight than males. A total of 6% of the females had a BMI of 17.5 or less or 2.5% had amenorrhea for 3 or more months. In contrast, a higher proportion of males (11.6%) reported binge eating behaviour. The prevalence rate of students at high-risk for an eating disorder was 14.9% (11.6–18) for males and 20.8% (18.7–22.8) for females, according to an overall cut-off point on the EDI questionnaire. Prevalence rates presented statistically significant differences by gender (p < 0.001) but not by school or academic year.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The prevalence of eating disorder risk in university students is high and is associated with unhealthy weight-control practices, similar results have been found in previous studies using cut-off points in questionnaires. These results may be taken into account to encourage early detection and a greater awareness for seeking treatment in order to improve the diagnosis, among students on university campuses.</p

Validation and psychometric analysis of the Internet Addiction Test in Spanish among college students

BACKGROUND: The wide use of the Internet in the workplace, academic or social field, can have an impact on daily life. One of the most used questionnaires worldwide to analyse these problems is the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Our aim was to validate a Spanish version of the IAT and analyse its psychometric properties. METHODS: Population of study were college students participating in the uniHcos project (Universities of Granada, Huelva, Jaén, León, Salamanca, and Vigo). The questionnaire was translated and back-translated by two native English speakers. Reliability of scores was analysed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and agreement was analysed using the Bland-Altman and Kappa techniques. Test dimensions were analysed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: The reliability of scores was good (r = 0.899, Kappa = 0.650 and mean difference using Bland-Altman = -3.5). The psychometric assessment identified two factors (Emotional Investment; Performance and Time Management) which explained 55 % of the variance (total internal consistency of 0.91) and only 19 items. The confirmatory analysis showed an acceptable goodness of fit, especially when items 6 and 8 were related (RMSEA = 0.07 90%IC = 0.06 - 0.08; WRMR = 1.01, CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.95). The two dimensions were negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with time spent online, especially for the purposes of leisure and entertainment. DISCUSSION: The results show good reliability and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of IAT with a two-dimensional solution. This result is partially in concordance with previous validations of the IAT in other languages that have found uni- and multi-dimensional solutions using different methodologies. Moreover, we want to highlight the possibility that some item of this questionnaire is outdated due to the technological and lifestyles changes and should be not taken into account. CONCLUSION: The reliability and psychometric properties obtained in this study support the conclusion that this Spanish short version of the IAT represents a useful tool for the analysis of problems arising from misuse of the Internet

Recovery from depressive symptoms, state anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in women exposed to physical and psychological, but not to psychological intimate partner violence alone: A longitudinal study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is well established that intimate male partner violence (IPV) has a high impact on women's mental health. It is necessary to further investigate this impact longitudinally to assess the factors that contribute to its recovery or deterioration. The objective of this study was to assess the course of depressive, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and suicidal behavior over a three-year follow-up in female victims of IPV.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Women (n = 91) who participated in our previous cross-sectional study, and who had been either physically/psychologically (n = 33) or psychologically abused (n = 23) by their male partners, were evaluated three years later. A nonabused control group of women (n = 35) was included for comparison. Information about mental health status and lifestyle variables was obtained through face-to-face structured interviews.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results of the follow-up study indicated that while women exposed to physical/psychological IPV recovered their mental health status with a significant decrease in depressive, anxiety and PTSD symptoms, no recovery occurred in women exposed to psychological IPV alone. The evolution of IPV was also different: while it continued across both time points in 65.21% of psychologically abused women, it continued in only 12.12% of physically/psychologically abused women while it was reduced to psychological IPV in 51.5%. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that cessation of physical IPV and perceived social support contributed to mental health recovery, while a high perception of lifetime events predicted the continuation of PTSD symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows that the pattern of mental health recovery depends on the type of IPV that the women had been exposed to. While those experiencing physical/psychological IPV have a higher likelihood of undergoing a cessation or reduction of IPV over time and, therefore, could recover, women exposed to psychological IPV alone have a high probability of continued exposure to the same type of IPV with a low possibility of recovery. Thus, women exposed to psychological IPV alone need more help to escape from IPV and to recuperate their mental health. Longitudinal studies are needed to improve knowledge of factors promoting or impeding health recovery to guide the formulation of policy at individual, social and criminal justice levels.</p