Men’s experiences of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and abuse in health care: A cross-sectional study of a Swedish random male population sample

Abstract

care in a random sample of Swedish adult men, to compare these estimates with previously collected prevalence rates in a male clinical sample to see if prevalence rates were dependant on response rate and sampling method. We also wanted to contribute to a more general analysis of men's experiences of victimisation. Methods:Cross sectional study design. The NorVold Abuse questionnaire that measures the prevalence of four kinds of abuse was sent to 6000 men selected at random from the population of Östergötland, Sweden. Results:The response rate was 50% (N=2924). Lifetime experiences of emotional abuse were reported by 16.7%, physical abuse by 48.9%, sexual abuse by 4.5% and abuse in health care by 7.3%. The proportion of men who currently suffered from abusive experiences was highest for emotional abuse and abuse in health care. No difference in prevalence was seen between the random population sample and the clinical sample despite significant differences regarding response rate and background characteristics. Conclusion:Abuse against men is prevalent and men are victimised as patients in health care. Response rate and sampling method did not influence prevalence rates of abuse. Men's victimisation from emotional abuse and abuse in health care was associated with low income and being born outside of the Nordic countries and hence needs to be analysed in the intersections of gender, class and ethnicity.

Self-reported exposure to intimate partner violence among women and men in Sweden: results from a population-based survey

“…Another population-based study assessing violence against men by several perpetrators and which was also conducted in Sweden has reported similar findings; [42] however, additional studies are needed to investigate this association further.…”

Associations and Experiences Observed for Family and Nonfamily Forms of Violent Behavior in Different Relational Contexts Among Swedish Men and Women

“…The present study is based on a secondary analysis of data previously collected for prevalence studies of violence against women and men in Sweden Swahnberg et al 2004;Swahnberg et al 2009;Swahnberg et al 2012). Detailed descriptions of the procedure for all data collections were published previously.…”

“…However, although analyzing the relationship between violence in childhood and violence in adult life is an extremely valid and important task, analyzing violence in different relational contexts as we have done is also of interest, and this shift in perspective might add something to the existing knowledge. For the two samples used in this study, the distribution of childhood and adult victimization, as well as the prevalence of mild, moderate and severe violence was published previously Swahnberg et al 2004;Swahnberg et al 2009;Swahnberg et al 2012). …”

Toward an integrated approach in research on interpersonal violence : Conceptual and methodological challenges

“…Because the comparison studies all consist of random population samples, only the NorAQ population samples (male and female) (Swahnberg et al, 2004;Swahnberg et al, 2012) are included in the comparison. To make as reasonable comparisons as possible I have, whenever possible, excluded behaviours obviously not included in all studies.…”

“…In study I, experiences of abuse in health care are also included but will not be discussed further, considering that such abuse is not the focus of this thesis. (Swahnberg, Davidsson-Simmons, Hearn and Wijma, 2012). Table 4 gives an overview of the different data collections.…”