Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Jan 18;23(1):123. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-14987-3.
Increased numbers of domestic abuse cases were reported at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people experiencing abuse faced barriers to seeking support with service closures affecting the sector. Available evidence suggests women are overrepresented in the reported cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) and we aimed to learn more about how their lives were impacted by social distancing restrictions.
We conducted an online qualitative interview study, using reflexive thematic analysis. Interviews were conducted between April 2021 and March 2022. 18 women in the UK with past experiences of IPV provided informed consent and participated in this study.
During the analysis, we identified five themes relating to the impact of lockdown restrictions on participants' lives, including: (1) Lockdown meant being confined to a place where abuse was escalating, (2) Barriers to accessing support, including "cancelled" services and missed opportunities to intervene during interactions in lockdown with frontline workers. (3) Increased feelings of fear, isolation, and loss of control, particularly during the early stages of the pandemic from the combination of abuse and pandemic-related changes to daily life. (4) Some forms of support were more accessible during the pandemic, such as provision of online psychological support and social groups. Participants also accessed new forms of support for the first time during the pandemic, in some cases sparked by posts and content on social media about abuse awareness. (5) For some, psychosocial wellbeing transformed during the pandemic, with several participants using the word "freedom" when reflecting on their experience of simultaneously escaping abuse and living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this study, we explored the views of female survivors of IPV in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results highlight the importance of combined public awareness campaigns and community intervention points for victims to safely seek help during social distancing restrictions. Having the time and space to reflect on healing after escaping abuse was described by women in our study as a benefit from their lives in lockdown, which is a factor that could be incorporated into future initiatives developed to support people subjected to violence and abuse.
在 COVID-19 大流行开始时，报告的家庭暴力案件数量有所增加。许多遭受虐待的人因服务关闭而面临寻求支持的障碍，这影响了该领域。现有证据表明，在报告的亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）案件中，女性的比例过高，我们旨在更多地了解社交距离限制如何影响她们的生活。
我们进行了一项在线定性访谈研究，使用反思性主题分析。访谈于 2021 年 4 月至 2022 年 3 月进行。英国 18 名有过 IPV 经历的女性同意并参与了这项研究。
在分析过程中，我们确定了五个与封锁限制对参与者生活的影响有关的主题，包括：（1）封锁意味着被困在一个虐待行为不断升级的地方，（2）在封锁期间与前线工作人员互动时，由于服务取消和错过干预机会，获取支持的障碍，（3）在大流行期间，由于虐待和与大流行相关的日常生活变化的结合，恐惧、孤立和失控感增加，尤其是在大流行的早期阶段，（4）在大流行期间，某些形式的支持更容易获得，例如提供在线心理支持和社交团体。参与者也在大流行期间首次获得了新形式的支持，在某些情况下，这是由于社交媒体上关于虐待意识的帖子和内容引发的，（5）对于一些人来说，大流行期间的心理社会健康状况发生了转变，有几名参与者在反思自己同时逃离虐待和经历 COVID-19 大流行的经历时使用了“自由”一词。
在这项研究中，我们探讨了英国 IPV 女性幸存者在 COVID-19 大流行期间的观点。我们的结果强调了联合公共意识运动和社区干预点的重要性，以便受害者在社交距离限制期间安全寻求帮助。在逃离虐待后有时间和空间反思愈合，这是我们研究中的女性描述的一个好处，这是一个可以纳入未来为遭受暴力和虐待的人提供支持的倡议的因素。
