The broader context of preventing alcohol‐related intimate partner violence

Alcohol use and intimate partner violence among women and their partners in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Overall, this finding supports the application of ecological models to describe the relationship between alcohol use and IPV as well as previous research that has identified an association between community-level social factors (e.g. neighborhood SES, community violence, and norms) and interpersonal violence (O'Campo et al 1995;Raghavan et al 2006;McKinney et al 2009;Raghavan et al 2009;Jain et al 2010;Robinson et al 2011;McKinney et al 2012;Chong et al 2015;Copp et al 2015;Graham et al 2017). To our knowledge, this is the first study to find an association between prevalence of alcohol use among partnered males and IPV, controlling for individual-level partner alcohol use in LMICs.…”

“…Similarly, female partner alcohol use was not measured in the DHS-6. It is possible that IPV survivors that drink alcohol may under-report their IPV experiences due to feelings of self-blame, which could confound the relationship between male partner alcohol use and IPV (Graham et al 2017).…”

“…Further research has situated these causal frameworks within an ecological model, recognizing that context (i.e. individual-, partner-, community-and societal-level factors) may facilitate or prevent alcohol-related IPV (Graham et al 2017). Similar to the original etiological research on this topic, these studies have largely been limited to HICs, thus making it difficult to generalize their findings to LMICs with different cultural and contextual realities.…”

Tailored integrated interventions for intimate partner violence and substance use are urgently needed

“…Placing such integrated interventions in a broader context such as Graham et al . describe in their prevention model for alcohol‐related IPV in the context of societal, community, relationship and individual risk factors and solutions is critical. We believe that individual or group interventions for substance users need to take into account different types and context of IPV , from situational couple violence where arguments can escalate into physical violence, to severe and escalating forms of violence characterised by multiple forms of abuse, terrorisation and threats and increasingly possessive and controlling behaviour on the part of the perpetrator (i.e.…”

“…In their novel trial presented in this issue, Gilbert et al [36] report significant reductions in IPV victimisation and drug use for female substance users in Kyrgyzstan who received a brief intervention and referral to treatment (screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment) model (women initiating new goals of safety) with HIV counselling and testing. Placing such integrated interventions in a broader context such as Graham et al [37] describe in their prevention model for alcoholrelated IPV in the context of societal, community, relationship and individual risk factors and solutions is critical. We believe that individual or group interventions for substance users need to take into account different types and context of IPV [38][39][40], from situational couple violence where arguments can escalate into physical violence, to severe and escalating forms of violence characterised by multiple forms of abuse, terrorisation and threats and increasingly possessive and controlling behaviour on the part of the perpetrator (i.e.…”