A preventable burden: Measuring and addressing the prevalence and health impacts of intimate partner violence in Australian women: Key findings and future directions

Abstract

Research project RP.14.01 <br/ >Intimate partner violence, including violence in both cohabiting and non-cohabiting relationships and emotional abuse:<br/ ><br/ >is prevalent–affecting one in three women since the age of 15. One in four women have experienced violence or abuse from a cohabiting partner. If we only consider physical and sexual violence, then one in six women have experienced at least one incident of violence by a cohabiting partner;<br/ >has serious impacts for women's health–contributing to a range of negative health outcomes, including poor mental health, problems during pregnancy and birth, alcohol and illicit drug use, suicide, injuries and homicide;<br/ >contributes an estimated 5.1 percent to the disease burden in Australian women aged 18-44 years and 2.2% of the burden in women of all ages;<br/ >contributes more to the burden than any other risk factor in women aged 18-44 years, more than well known risk factors like tobacco use, high cholesterol or use of illicit drugs;<br/ >is estimated to contribute five times more to the burden of disease among Indigenous than non-Indigenous women;<br/ >is estimated to make a larger contribution than any other risk factor to the gap in the burden between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women aged 18-44 years; and<br/ >has serious consequences for the development and wellbeing of children living with violence.<br/ ><br/ >There has been no decrease in the prevalence or health burden of intimate partner violence since both were last measured in Australia.<br/ ><br/ >Intimate partner violence and its health impacts are preventable.<br/ ><br/ >The health burden of intimate partner violence can be reduced by:<br/ ><br/ >supporting women and children's long-term recovery in the aftermath of violence;<br/ >responding to violence to stop it occurring again;<br/ >intervening when there are early warning signs of violence; and<br/ >preventing violence from occurring in the first place by addressing known root causes.<br/ ><br/ >Because experiencing intimate partner violence increases the risk of health problems, to substantially reduce the health burden, it will be necessary to prevent new cases of violence. This will require a greater emphasis on early intervention and primary prevention to stop violence from occurring in the first place.<br/ ><br/ >There is agreement among expert bodies that reducing intimate partner violence and the health burden it causes will require a coordinated approach involving all levels of prevention and all sectors of society (Michau, Horn, Bank, Dutt, & Zimmerman, 2014; UN Women, 2015).<br/ ><br/ >Australia is well placed to achieve this because the Commonwealth and state and territory governments have agreed to a coordinated national approach in the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 (Council of Australian Governments, 2011). This study shows that it will be important to continue to support and strengthen this national approach. There is a particular need for a focus on reducing violence affecting Indigenous women, and other groups of women experiencing more prevalent, severe or frequent violence.