Patterns of harm associated with intimate partner violence
A new study has found ambulance attendance rates for alcohol or other drug-related intimate partner violence (IPV) are higher in Victoria's most disadvantaged areas and regional or remote communities.
Led by Shane Yin Choo and Dr Rowan Ogeil from Turning Point, Monash University and Ambulance Victoria, the study used data from the National Ambulance Surveillance System to examine Victorian IPV-related ambulance attendances involving alcohol, other drugs, mental health symptoms, and self-harm behaviours between July 2016 and June 2018.
“Our research revealed significant disparities in harm across gender and age groups, with people living in lower socioeconomic areas or more remote communities experiencing substantially greater impacts when it came to ambulance callouts for intimate partner violence involving alcohol or other drugs," said Dr Ogeil, the paper’s senior author and Strategic Lead of the National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit.
The researchers found that 84.4 percent of victim survivors were women, one-third of IPV-related ambulance attendances involved women between 25 and 34 years, and 67 percent of all attendances required transport to hospital.
Victim survivors from areas of greater socio-economic disadvantage were over 3.5 times more likely to experience an IPV-related ambulance attendance compared to people living in the most advantaged areas.
"Ambulance data gives us crucial insights into intimate partner violence involving alcohol and other drugs and mental health issues in rural areas, revealing harms that often go uncounted in standard reporting systems that focus on metropolitan-based populations," Dr Ogeil said.
Health services and those engaged with IPV victim survivors now have an opportunity to utilise this data to develop effective harm minimisation and preventative strategies for this complex social health issue.
- Read more about the research from Monash University: New research highlights hidden patterns of harm associated with intimate partner violence involving alcohol and other drugs
- Read the paper: Patterns of intimate partner violence in Victoria, Australia: analysis using the National Ambulance Surveillance System
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