Intimate Partner Violence and Women's Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil.

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) increased extensively around the world during the pandemic, causing severe women's mental health damages. However, there are no studies showing these effects in Brazil.

Purpose: To assess the perpetration of IPV and the presence of depression and suicidal ideation in women living in Brazil during the pandemic.

Methods: Cross-sectional online survey including women living in Brazil from July 2020 to Jun 2021. Participants answered a 43-item self-applied questionnaire exploring their characteristics and life changes due to the pandemic (CoRonavIruS Health Impact Survey), IPV (World Health Organization Violence Against Women) and depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). We used multiple Poisson regression analyses with robust variance to model associations between IPV and mental health outcomes, considering as covariates aspects of social vulnerability.

Results: We found a high frequency of IPV (33.3%), depression (36.1%) and suicidal ideation (19.8%) among the participants. IPV was significantly associated with depression (PR=1.502, p=0.001 for one type of IPV; PR=2.702, p<0.001 for two or three types of IPV) and suicidal ideation (PR=2.264, p<0.001 for one type of VPI; PR=3.272, p<0.001 for two or three types of IPV). Food insecurity, being black, lower educational levels and being in a relationship with a person of the same gender were associated with one or both mental health outcomes.

Conclusions: We demonstrated an association of IPV with higher frequencies of depression and suicidal ideation in women living in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the urgency of strengthening strategies to protect women during adversities.