Intimate Partner Violence Among Hiv Serodiscordant Couples In Durban, South Africa
Author: Andrew Tomita
Publisher:
Published: 2017
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBackground: South Africa has a high prevalence rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV, which can be further exacerbated by HIV serodiscordancy in the couple dyad. Further exploration of the discordancy sidedness in known mediating factors, such as alcohol abuse risk and post-traumatic stress, are also required. This paper aimed to investigate the extent of and gender differences in IPV, alcohol abuse risk and posttraumatic stress symptoms among HIV serodiscordant couples in Durban, South Africa, and to further analyze this with respect to female HIV serostatus.Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of the data was conducted on 30 serodiscordant couples at the point of enrolment into a pilot study of an HIV risk reduction intervention. The statistical procedure for a dependent small sample was applied to examine gender differences in IPV, alcohol use and posttraumatic stress symptoms among HIV serodiscordant couples.Results: Of the 30 serodiscordant couples enrolled, the women were HIV positive in 18 (60%). The IPV exposure between men (28.57%) and women (89.29%) was significantly different (Proportionaldifference = -0.61, 95% CI: -0.82 to -0.39). Posttraumatic stress symptoms scores between men (Mdn=22; IQR=23) and women (Mdn=44; IQR=28) were significantly different, based on the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (p=0.03). When the above analysis was stratified by female HIV serostatus, we found significant gender differences in IPV and post-traumatic stress in the couples where the female was HIV positive. However, there was a significant gender difference only in IPV where the female was HIV negative. There were no significant gender differences for alcohol abuse risk.Conclusions: The findings demonstrated high levels of IPV in HIV serodiscordant couples, and significant gender difference in mental health risk (i.e. post-traumatic stress) in such relationships, particularly where the woman was HIV positive. HIV intervention programs should address gender-based violence and inequity among heterosexual couples.