Violence in the care of adult persons with intellectual disabilities

Background. Violence, for example physical, psychological, financial and sexual abuse and neglect, exists and is an under‐reported problem in caring situations involving adult persons with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, where both parties can be seen as victims and perpetrators. Aims and objectives. To investigate violent situations involving Swedish adult persons with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers in group‐dwellings. Design. A total population‐based survey. Methods. A questionnaire, including violence towards adults with intellectual disabilities and violence towards staff members during 1 year, was sent to all staff members (n = 164) from 17 care settings for adults with intellectual disabilities with a response rate of 74%. Results. Thirty‐five per cent of 122 respondents admitted they had been implicated in or witnessed a violent incident towards an adult person with intellectual disabilities and 14% of the staff members admitted they themselves had been the perpetrators. Sixty‐one per cent of the staff members described various situations when they were exposed to violence from an adult person with intellectual disabilities. Physical violence was most frequently reported. Most of the aggression occurred in helping situations when persons with intellectual disabilities did not co‐operate or when both actors reacted with violence. The violent situations led the staff members to feel powerless and inadequate. In order to cope they discussed with each other or with the manager. Conclusions. Violence seems to be accepted as a natural part of the daily care for adult persons with intellectual disabilities. Most of the violence is physical and psychological and occurs in close helping situations. Relevance to clinical practice. Supportive interventions, i.e. supervision for the staff members and training of communication skills individually or in group for the adults with intellectual disabilities.     

Is gender important? Victimisation and perpetration of intimate partner violence in mainland China

Establishing the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recommended by International Conventions and Declarations for some time beginning with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Articles 12 and 19) in 1979. One important recommendation of such international protocols is the implementation of national population prevalence surveys to establishing IPV as a serious social issue globally, which is intended to provide data for planning effective responses within signatory countries. However, not all countries have undertaken national prevalence surveys meaning that there are gaps in our understanding of who are the perpetrators and victims of IPV in different cultural contexts. This article presents the results of a scoping review of literature examining gender differences in prevalence rates of victimisation and perpetration of IPV in mainland China (hereon China). There has been little written about the prevalence of IPV in China generally, and this scoping process located only nine peer‐reviewed articles written in both English‐ and Chinese‐language journals focusing on both gender and IPV published between 1997 and 2016. Results of this scoping review demonstrate that while both women and men perpetrate IPV in China, the prevalence rates of different types of IPV reflect gender differences in both perpetration and victimisation, suggesting that IPV is not a unitary phenomenon. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings including the importance of increasing awareness of IPV in China more generally and developing gender‐specific interventions to directly address different types of IPV. Directions for future research are also canvassed.     

Towards an ecological understanding of readiness to engage with interventions for children exposed to domestic violence and abuse: Systematic review and qualitative synthesis of perspectives of children,parents and practitioners

Children who grow up in homes affected by domestic violence and abuse (DVA) are at risk of poor outcomes across the lifespan, yet there is limited evidence on the acceptability and effectiveness of interventions for them. A recent review of child‐focused interventions highlighted a gap in understanding the factors influencing the willingness of parents and children to engage with these programmes. We conducted a systematic review of qualitative evidence on the experiences of receiving and delivering interventions with the aim of identifying factors at different levels of the social–ecological context that may influence parent and child readiness to take up interventions. We searched literature till April 2016 and found 12 reports of eight programmes. Two authors independently screened papers for inclusion, extracted data and identified the first‐ and second‐order constructs. The third‐order constructs were derived and fitted to the ecological framework to inform a picture of readiness to engage with interventions. Three key findings emerged from this review: (a) parent and child readiness is influenced by a complex interplay of individual, relationship and organisational factors, highlighting that individual readiness to take up child‐focussed interventions must be viewed in an ecological context; (b) the specific process through which women become ready to engage in or facilitate child‐focussed interventions may differ from that related to uptake of safety‐promoting behaviours and requires parents to be aware of the impact of DVA on children and to focus on children's needs; (c) there are distinct but interlinked processes through which parents and children reach a point of readiness to engage in an interventions aimed at improving child outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for both practice and research.     

Counter striking psychosis: Commercial video games as potential treatment in schizophrenia? A systematic review of neuroimaging studies

Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic, and strongly disabling neuropsychiatric disorder, characterized by cognitive decline, positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms respond well to antipsychotic medication and psycho-social interventions, in contrast to negative symptoms and neurocognitive impairments. Cognitive deficits have been linked to a poorer outcome and hence specific cognitive remediation therapies have been proposed. Their effectiveness is nowadays approved and neurobiological correlates have been reconfirmed by brain imaging studies. Interestingly, recent MRI work showed that commercial video games modified similar brain areas as these specialized training programs. If gray matter increases and functional brain modulations would translate in better cognitive and every day functioning, commercial video game training could be an enjoyable and economically interesting treatment option for patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. This systematic review summarizes advances in the area with emphasis on imaging studies dealing with brain changes upon video game training and contrasts them to conventional cognitive remediation. Moreover, we discuss potential challenges therapeutic video game development and research would have to face in future treatment of schizophrenia.     

Interventions to support recovery after domestic and sexual violence in primary care

Abstract

Experiences of domestic and sexual violence are common in patients attending primary care. Most often they are not identified due to barriers to asking by health practitioners and disclosure by patients. Women are more likely than men to experience such violence and present with mental and physical health symptoms to health practitioners. If identified through screening or case finding as experiencing violence they need to be supported to recover from these traumas. This paper draws on systematic reviews published in 2013–2015 and a further literature search undertaken to identify recent intervention studies relevant to recovery from domestic and sexual violence in primary care. There is limited evidence as to what interventions in primary care assist with recovery from domestic violence; however, they can be categorized into the following areas: first line response and referral, psychological treatments, safety planning and advocacy, including through home visitation and peer support programmes, and parenting and mother–child interventions. Sexual violence interventions usually include trauma informed care and models to support recovery. The most promising results have been from nurse home visiting advocacy programmes, mother–child psychotherapeutic interventions, and specific psychological treatments (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Trauma informed Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and, for sexual assault, Exposure and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Interventions). Holistic healing models have not been formally tested by randomized controlled trials, but show some promise. Further research into what supports women and their children on their trajectory of recovery from domestic and sexual violence is urgently needed.     

Inter-personal violence and abuse in adolescent intimate relationships: mental health impact and implications for practice

Abstract

This paper provides a narrative review of the knowledge on inter-personal violence and abuse (IPVA) in adolescents’ intimate relationships. It draws on the authors’ own research, published reviews, and a rapid review on IPVA victimization and mental health outcomes for adolescents. The research reviewed identified associations between adolescent IPVA and substance misuse, depressive symptoms and PTSD, eating disorders and suicidal thinking, and behaviour in young people. Generally, girls appeared more likely to report severe mental health outcomes than boys. Adolescents rarely disclose IPVA to adults and delivering preventative programmes that promote knowledge and help seeking may offer a means of building on young people’s tendency to seek help from friends. These preventative interventions, usually delivered in schools, need to be closely linked to support services for adolescents who disclose abuse. While there are some practice examples of emerging interventions for both victims and perpetrators of adolescent IPVA, there is as yet little robust evidence regarding their effectiveness.     

精氨酸加压素受体和催产素受体基因多态性与男性青少年暴力攻击行为的关联研究

目的:探讨精氨酸加压素受体(AVPR1A、AVPR1B)和催产素受体(OXTR)基因多态性在青少年男性暴力攻击行为发生中的作用,并进一步分析基因与基因的交互作用。方法:采用SNa Pshot基因分型技术对138名暴力攻击行为男性少教人员(暴力组)、98名非暴力男性少教人员(非暴力组)以及153名正常成年男性(正常组)的AVPR1A(rs1042615)、AVPR1B(rs28632197)、OXTR(rs13316193、rs2254298、rs53576、rs2268498、rs237885)进行基因分型检测,分析3组间的等位基因和基因型频率。采用多因子降维法(MDR)构建影响暴力攻击行为发生的基因-基因间交互作用模型。结果:暴力组AVPR1B基因rs28632197位点A等位基因频率明显高于非暴力组和正常组(P均0.017),OR值分别为2.24及2.63,95%CI分别为(1.45~3.47)和(1.78~3.88);暴力组与非暴力组及正常组在基因型分布差异有统计学意义(P0.05),暴力组含A等位基因的基因型(AA/AG)明显高于非暴力组和正常组(P0.017);其余位点组间差异无统计学意义。AVPR1B(rs28632197)与OXTR(rs53576)在暴力攻击行为的发生中存在基因间交互作用。结论:AVPR1B基因多态性可能与暴力攻击行为相关;AVPR1B与OXTR基因的交互作用可能增加暴力攻击行为的发生风险。     

Underreporting sexual violence among ‘ethnic’1 migrant women: perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand

In Aotearoa/New Zealand, sexual violence within minority ethnic communities is endemic, but grossly underreported. This paper presents the results of two small-scale qualitative studies that explored key issues in the underreporting of sexual violence. In-depth interviews were undertaken with key informants including academics, specialist sexual violence practitioners and community/social workers. The study identified two main factors that led to underreporting: first, internalised barriers as a result of a ‘white’ and ‘male’ gaze; and second, the cultural relativitism of meanings of violence. Themes within these broader areas highlighted issues of stigma; defensiveness surrounding traditional norms, especially concerning gender roles; and the referencing of minority group identity, as deterrents to disclosure and reporting. The paper also explored the implications of underreporting for help-seeking behaviours among women and for developing systems for the collection of robust evidence of sexual violence among minority ethnic women. The paper concludes with recommendations for improved strategic efforts to encourage safe disclosure among women in minority ethnic communities who experience sexual violence.     

The promises and limitations of gender-transformative health programming with men: critical reflections from the field

Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, researchers and practitioners have engaged in a series of efforts to shift health programming with men from being gender-neutral to being more gender-sensitive and gender-transformative. Efforts in this latter category have been increasingly utilised, particularly in the last decade, and attempt to transform gender relations to be more equitable in the name of improved health outcomes for both women and men. We begin by assessing the conceptual progression of social science contributions to gender-transformative health programming with men. Next, we briefly assess the empirical evidence from gender-transformative health interventions with men. Finally, we examine some of the challenges and limitations of gender-transformative health programmes and make recommendations for future work in this thriving interdisciplinary area of study.