Gender-based violence and its association with mental health among Somali women in a Kenyan refugee camp: a latent class analysis

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Hossain, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1878-8145, Pearson, RJ, McAlpine, A, Bacchus, LJ, Spangaro, J, Muthuri, S, Muuo, S, Franchi, G, Hess, T, Bangha, M and Izugbara, C, 2021. Gender-based violence and its association with mental health among Somali women in a Kenyan refugee camp: a latent class analysis. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 75 (4), pp. 327-334. ISSN 0143-005X

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-214086

Abstract

Background: In conflict-affected settings, women and girls are vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is associated with poor long-term mental health such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding the interaction between current violence and past conflict-related violence with ongoing mental health is essential for improving mental health service provision in refugee camps.

Methods: Using data collected from 209 women attending GBV case management centres in the Dadaab refugee camps, Kenya, we grouped women by recent experience of GBV using latent class analysis and modelled the relationship between the groups and symptomatic scores for anxiety, depression and PTSD using linear regression.

Results: Women with past-year experience of intimate partner violence alone may have a higher risk of depression than women with past-year experience of non-partner violence alone (Coef. 1.68, 95% CI 0.25 to 3.11). Conflict-related violence was an important risk factor for poor mental health among women who accessed GBV services, despite time since occurrence (average time in camp was 11.5 years) and even for those with a past-year experience of GBV (Anxiety: 3.48, 1.85–5.10; Depression: 2.26, 0.51–4.02; PTSD: 6.83, 4.21–9.44).

Conclusion: Refugee women who experienced past-year intimate partner violence or conflict-related violence may be at increased risk of depression, anxiety or PTSD. Service providers should be aware that compared to the general refugee population, women who have experienced violence may require additional psychological support and recognise the enduring impact of violence that occurred before, during and after periods of conflict and tailor outreach and treatment services accordingly.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Creators:	Hossain, M., Pearson, R.J., McAlpine, A., Bacchus, L.J., Spangaro, J., Muthuri, S., Muuo, S., Franchi, G., Hess, T., Bangha, M. and Izugbara, C.
Publisher:	BMJ
Date:	April 2021
Volume:	75
Number:	4
ISSN:	0143-005X
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1136/jech-2020-214086 DOI 1622100 Other
Rights:	© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	24 Nov 2022 13:53
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2022 13:53
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47501