Associations between exposure to intimate partner violence, armed conflict, and probable PTSD among women in rural Côte d'Ivoire.

Abstract

BackgroundObjectives were to assess associations between intimate partner violence (IPV), violence during armed conflict (i.e. crisis violence), and probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).MethodsUsing a sample of 950 women in rural Côte d'Ivoire, logistic generalized estimating equations assessed associations between IPV and crisis violence exposures with past-week probable PTSD.ResultsOver one in 5 (23.4%) women reported past-year IPV, and over one in 4 women (26.5%) reported experiencing IPV prior to the past year (i.e. remote IPV). Crisis violence was experienced by 72.6% of women. In adjusted models including demographics, crisis violence (overall and specific forms), and IPV (remote and past-year), women who reported past-year IPV had 3.1 times the odds of reporting probable past-week PTSD (95%CI: 1.8-5.3) and those who reported remote IPV had 1.6 times the odds (95%CI: 0.9-2.7). Violent exposures during the crisis were not significantly associated with probable PTSD (any crisis violence: aOR: 1.04 (0.7-1.5); displacement: aOR: 0.9 (95%CI: 0.5-1.7); family victimization during crisis: aOR: 1.1 (95%CI: 0.8-1.7); personal victimization during crisis: aOR: 1.7 (95%CI: 0.7-3.7)).ConclusionPast-year IPV was more strongly associated with past-week probable PTSD than remote IPV and violence directly related to the crisis. IPV must be considered within humanitarian mental health and psychosocial programming.