Institute for Global Health, UCL, London, UK.
Program on Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children, Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
BMJ Open. 2021 Sep 27;11(9):e050381. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050381.
There is a concern worldwide that efforts to address the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have affected the frequency and intensity of domestic violence against women. Residents of urban informal settlements faced particularly stringent conditions during the response in India. Counsellors spoke with registered survivors of domestic violence in Mumbai, with two objectives: to understand how the pandemic and subsequent lockdown had changed their needs and experiences, and to recommend programmatic responses.
Qualitative interviews and framework analysis.
A non-government support programme for survivors of violence against women, providing services mainly for residents of informal settlements.
During follow-up telephone counselling with survivors of violence against women who had previously registered for support and consented to the use of information in research, counsellors took verbal consent for additional questions about the effects of COVID-19 on their daily life, their ability to speak with someone, and their counselling preferences. Responses were recorded as written notes.
The major concerns of 586 clients interviewed between April and July 2020 were meeting basic needs (financial stress, interrupted livelihoods and food insecurity), confinement in small homes (family tensions and isolation with abusers) and limited mobility (power imbalances in the home and lack of opportunity for disclosure and stress relief). A major source of stress was the increased burden of unpaid domestic care, which fell largely on women.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the burden of poverty and gendered unpaid care. Finance and food security are critical considerations for future response, which should consider inequality, financial support, prioritising continued availability of services for survivors of violence and expanding access to social networks. Decision-makers must be aware of the gendered, intersectional effects of interventions and must include residents of informal settlements who are survivors of domestic violence in the planning and implementation of public health strategies.
全球范围内存在一种担忧，即应对 SARS-CoV-2 大流行的努力影响了针对妇女的家庭暴力的频率和强度。在印度的应对过程中，城市非正规住区的居民面临着特别严格的条件。咨询师与孟买的家庭暴力注册幸存者进行了交谈，目的有两个：了解大流行和随后的封锁如何改变了他们的需求和经历，并提出方案应对建议。
定性访谈和框架分析。
一个针对暴力侵害妇女幸存者的非政府支持计划，主要为非正规住区居民提供服务。
在对先前注册并同意将信息用于研究的暴力侵害妇女幸存者进行后续电话咨询时，咨询师征得幸存者的口头同意，询问他们关于 COVID-19 对日常生活、与他人交谈能力和咨询偏好的影响的其他问题。受访者的回答被记录为书面笔记。
2020 年 4 月至 7 月期间对 586 名受访者进行的访谈主要关注基本需求（经济压力、生计中断和粮食不安全）、家庭禁闭（家庭紧张和与施虐者隔离）和有限的流动性（家庭中的权力失衡和缺乏披露和缓解压力的机会）。主要压力源是无偿家庭护理负担增加，这主要落在妇女身上。
COVID-19 大流行增加了贫困和性别化的无偿护理负担。财务和粮食安全是未来应对的关键考虑因素，应对措施应考虑不平等、财政支持、优先考虑继续为暴力幸存者提供服务的机会，并扩大社会网络的获取途径。决策者必须意识到干预措施的性别和交叉影响，并将非正规住区的家庭暴力幸存者纳入公共卫生战略的规划和实施中。
