Bani-Fatemi Ali, Malta Monica, Noble Amanda, Wang Wei, Rajakulendran Thanara, Kahan Deborah, Stergiopoulos Vicky
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Covenant House, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Front Psychiatry. 2020 Dec 9;11:601540. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.601540. eCollection 2020.
Homelessness is an important risk factor for gender-based violence (GBV), particularly among youth, and disproportionally affects women and girls. Survivors of GBV experience enduring and severe physical, psychological, and sexual health problems. Although key elements in service delivery for survivors of GBV have been identified, little is known about outcomes of community-based programs aiming to assist homeless and unstably housed youth experiencing GBV. This longitudinal study aimed to quantitatively evaluate changes in mental health and well-being outcomes in female identified youth experiencing GBV and homelessness, 12 months after enrolment in a community-based, trauma-informed, brief group psychoeducation intervention. Standardized survey measures were administered at baseline, 6 and 12 months for 70 participants, recruited between February 2017 and April 2019, assessing quality of life, psychological distress, traumatic symptoms, substance use, resilience, victimization, and sense of mastery. Linear mixed models were used to examine longitudinal changes in quality of life as well as secondary outcomes among study participants. After 12 months, quality of life increased significantly among participants ( = 0.009), and the 12-month victimization score was significantly decreased relative to baseline ( = 0.05). Changes in other outcomes were not statistically significant. Findings suggest that community-based brief group psychoeducation interventions may be a promising approach to improving outcomes for this disadvantaged population.
无家可归是基于性别的暴力（GBV）的一个重要风险因素，在青年中尤为如此，且对妇女和女孩的影响尤为严重。GBV幸存者经历着持久且严重的身体、心理和性健康问题。尽管已确定了为GBV幸存者提供服务的关键要素，但对于旨在帮助经历GBV的无家可归和住房不稳定青年的社区项目的成果却知之甚少。这项纵向研究旨在对参与基于社区、创伤知情的简短团体心理教育干预12个月后的、经历GBV和无家可归的女性青年的心理健康和幸福状况变化进行定量评估。在2017年2月至2019年4月期间招募了70名参与者，并在基线、6个月和12个月时采用标准化调查措施，评估生活质量、心理困扰、创伤症状、物质使用、恢复力、受害情况和掌控感。使用线性混合模型来检验研究参与者生活质量的纵向变化以及次要结果。12个月后，参与者的生活质量显著提高（ = 0.009），且12个月时的受害得分相对于基线显著降低（ = 0.05）。其他结果的变化无统计学意义。研究结果表明，基于社区的简短团体心理教育干预可能是改善这一弱势群体状况的一种有前景的方法。
