Armed Conflict, Intimate Partner Violence, and Mental Distress of Women in Northeastern Uganda: A Mixed Methods Study.

Journal: Psychology of women quarterly

Volume: 43

Issue: 4

Year of Publication: 

Affiliated Institutions:  Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Department of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA. Behavioral Health Department, Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Kalispell, MT, USA. Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA. Educational Psychology, Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis & Policy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA. Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, Kampala, Uganda. School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

Abstract summary 

As global mental health research and programming proliferate, research that prioritizes women's voices and examines marginalized women's mental health outcomes in relation to exposure to violence at community and relational levels of the socioecological model is needed. In a mixed methods, transnational study, we examined armed conflict exposure, intimate partner violence (IPV), and depressive symptoms among 605 women in Northeastern Uganda. We used analysis of variance to test between groups of women who had experienced no IPV or armed conflict, IPV only, armed conflict only, and both; and linear regression to predict depressive symptoms. We used rapid ethnographic methods with a subsample ( = 21) to identify problem prioritization; and, to characterize women's mental health experiences, we conducted follow up in-depth interviews ( = 15), which we analyzed with grounded theory methods. Thirty percent of the sample met the cut-off for probable major depressive disorder; women exposed to both IPV and armed conflict had significantly higher rates of depression than all other groups. While women attributed psychological symptoms primarily to IPV exposure, both past-year IPV and exposure to armed conflict were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Women identified socioeconomic neglect as having the most impact and described three interrelated mental health experiences that contribute to thoughts of escape, including escape through suicide. Policy efforts should be interprofessional, and specialists should collaborate to advance multi-pronged interventions and gender-informed implementation strategies for women's wellbeing.

Authors & Co-authors:  Mootz Jennifer J JJ Muhanguzi Florence F Greenfield Brenna B Gill Meghan M Gonzalez Miigis B MB Panko Pavel P Mangen Patrick Onyango PO Wainberg Milton L ML Khoshnood Kaveh K

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  Abas MA, & Broadhead JC (1997). Depression and anxiety among women in an urban setting in Zimbabwe. Psychological Medicine, 27, 59–71. doi:10.1017/S0033291796004163
Authors :  9
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1177/0361684319864366
SSN : 0361-6843
Study Population
Women
Mesh Terms
Other Terms
common mental disorders;depression;domestic violence;mixed methods;transnational;war
Study Design
Grounded Theory,Ethnographic Study,Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Mixed Methods
Country of Study
Uganda
Publication Country
England