Research is beginning to examine gender-based violence (GBV) survivors’ recovery, but little is known about diverse recovery trajectories or their relationships with other distress and recovery variables. This interdisciplinary, international multisite mixed-method study developed and used the TRR to identify and classify survivors’ trauma pathways. This study describes the phases of the initial development of the preliminary TRR (Phase 1), refines and calibrates the TRR (Phase 2), and then integrates the TRR into quantitative data from four countries (Phase 3). Seven recovery pathways with six domains emerged: normalizing, minimizing, consumed/trapped; shutdown or frozen, surviving, seeking and fighting for integration; finding integration/equanimity. Depression scores were related to most recovery domains, and TRR scores had large effect sizes. At the same time, PTSD was not statistically related to TRR scores, but TRR had a medium effect size. Our study found that the TRR can be implemented in diverse cultural settings and promises a reliable cross-cultural tool. The TRR is a survivor-centered, trauma-informed way to understand different survivorship pathways and how different pathways impact health outcomes. Overall, this rubric provides a foundation for future study on differences in survivor healing and the drivers of these differences. This tool can potentially improve survivor care delivery and our understanding of how to meet best the needs of the survivor populations we intend to serve.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) causes adverse perinatal mental health outcomes; however, few studies have identified why. We focused on antenatal social support to reveal how it affects the relationship between IPV during pregnancy and mental health outcomes. A prospective cohort study was conducted during the third trimester and 1-month postnatal. The relationship between IPV during pregnancy and antenatal depressive symptoms, which were associated with mother–infant bonding failure and postnatal depressive symptoms, was affected by mother’s satisfaction with antenatal social support. Perceived social support for abused women must be increased to prevent antenatal depressive symptoms and adverse postnatal mental health outcomes.
10 January 2019 in Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Previous studies have not focused on how intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy predicts early postnatal child abuse. This study identifies the continuity and spillover effects of IPV during pregnancy on IPV and child abuse and neglect (CAN) at 1-month and 3-month postnatal periods. A total of 822 pregnant women were recruited at the third trimester of pregnancy at two obstetric hospitals in Tokyo, Japan, from June 2016 to September 2017. IPV during pregnancy and IPV and CAN at 1 month and 3 months postnatal were obtained through self-reported questionnaires. Results show that the rate of IPV was highest during pregnancy (16.4%), and there was significant continuance (69.4%) of this occurrence of IPV after childbirth (1 month: 13.9%; 3 months: 13.7%). In addition, the rate of CAN was 20.0% at 1 month postnatal and slightly increased at 3 months postnatal (21.8%). Furthermore, this study indicates that IPV during pregnancy was significantly associated with CAN at 1 month and 3 months postnatal (β = .16 and β = .14) and with IPV at 1 month (β = .68), and subsequently, IPV at 1 month was significantly associated with IPV at 3 months postnatal (β = .56). This study suggests the importance of conducting screenings for IPV during the perinatal period and providing intensive health interventions for abused women to support their parenting from pregnancy to 3 months postnatal to prevent or reduce CAN at 1 month and 3 months postnatal.
A Japanese version of the short form of the expanded Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-X-SF-J) was developed in this study, as the extended version captures broader, more diverse personal growth perspectives, such as existential spiritual growth. We collected cross-sectional data from 408 (first sample) and 284 (second sample) Japanese university students using the expanded version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-X-J). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed with the first sample and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the second; reliability and validity were examined. The short-form version resulting from the EFA and CFA comprised 10 items and five factors. Cronbach’s alpha for the PTGI-X-SF-J total and subscale scores ranged from 0.671 to 0.875. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the total and subscale scores between the PTGI-X-J and PTGI-X-SF-J ranged from 0.699 to 0.821. Regarding external validity, no significant correlation was found between posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress disorder checklists. Due to its brevity, the PTGI-X-SF-J can help assess diverse spiritual and existential personal growth experiences among clients, patients, and trauma survivors while reducing physical and psychological burdens.
3 September 2020 in Japan Journal of Nursing Science