Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic

An Overview of Current Literature

Keywords: domestic violence, pandemic, COVID-19

Abstract

Domestic violence (DV) is the most common issue affecting the most vulnerable who are not able to defend themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic created conditions for it to occur. The aim of this work was to review the current literature on DV during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The material and method of choice were a review of the literature from the years 2020–2021. The results regarding violence against women, children and the elderly were analyzed and criticized. Results: during the analyzed period, about 200 articles contained the key words. 37 of them were qualified to the complete analysis. They were selected from different countries. Conclusions: The pandemic led to a rise in DV. It was noticed that the number of attempts to seek help was lower. There were trigger factors such as a high level of negative emotions, being overwhelmed by housework, job loss, poor financial situation, and psychoactive substances.

Author Biographies

Wioletta Ławska, Podhalańska Państwowa Uczelnia Zawodowa w Nowym Targu

Magister pielęgniarstwa, doktor nauk medycznych. Starszy wykładowca w Instytucie Medycznym Podhalańskiej Państwowej Uczelni Zawodowej w Nowym Targu. Specjalista pielęgniarstwa psychiatrycznego. Jej zainteresowania naukowe dotyczą problemów zdrowia psychicznego oraz geriatrii.

Marta Makara-Studzińska, Collegium Medicum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego

Specjalista psycholog kliniczny, specjalista zdrowia publicznego, suicydolog, psychoterapeuta, superwizor psychoterapii. Pracownik naukowy Zakładu Psychologii Zdrowia, Wydziału Nauk o Zdrowiu, UJ Collegium Medicum.

References

Alharbi, F.F., Alkheraiji, M.A., Aljumah, A.A., Al-Eissa, M., Qasim, S.S. i Alaqeel, M.K. (2021). Domestic Violence Against Married Women During the COVID-19 Quarantine in Saudi Arabia. Cureus, 13(5):e15231. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.15231.

Barboza, G.E., Schiamberg, L.B. i Pachl, L. (2021). A spatiotemporal anal-ysis of the impact of COVID-19 on child abuse and neglect in the city of Los Angeles, California. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116, 104740. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104740.

Bek, D., Sitarz, O. i Jaworska-Wieloch, A. (2021). Gdy azyl staje się wię-zieniem – przeciwdziałanie przemocy domowej w warunkach kwa-rantanny i izolacji. Forum Polityki Kryminalnej, nr 1, 1–31. Pozyskano z: https://www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/FPK/article/view/12217 (dostęp: 02.01.2022).

Boo, W.H. Exposure to Domestic Violence During the COVID-19 Pandem-ic: A Potent Threat to the Mental Well-being of Children. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 28(3), 158–159. DOI: 10.21315/mjms2021.28.3.16.

Bullinger, L.R., Boy, A., Messner, S. i Self-Brown, S. (2021). Pediatric emergency department visits due to child abuse and neglect following COVID 19 public health emergency declaration in the Southeastern United States. BMC Pediatrics, 21(1), 401. DOI: 10.1186/s12887-021-02870-2.

Cappa, C. i Jijon, I. (2021). COVID-19 and violence against children: A review of early studies. Child Abuse & Neglect, Jun;116(Pt 2), 105053. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105053.

Chang, E.S. i Levy, B.R. (2021). High Prevalence of Elder Abuse During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Risk and Resilience Factors. The American Jour-nal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 29(11), 1152–1159. DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2021.01.007.

Chung, G., Lanier, P. i Wong, P.Y.J. (2020). Mediating Effects of Parental Stress on Harsh Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship during Coro-navirus (COVID-19) Pandemic in Singapore. Journal of Family Violence, Sep 2, 1–12. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-020-00200-1.

Dahal, M., Khanal, P., Maharjan, S., Panthi, B. i Nepal, S. (2020). Mitigat-ing violence against women and young girls during COVID-19 induced lockdown in Nepal: a wake-up call. Global Health Journal, 16(1), 84. DOI: 10.1186/s12992-020-00616-w.

De Oliveira, S.M.T., Galdeano, E.A., da Trindade, E.M.G.G., Fernandez, R.S., Buchaim,R.L., Buchaim, D.V., da Cunha, M.R. i Passos, S.D. (2021). Epidemiological Study of Violence against Children and Its In-crease during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Envi-ronmental Research and Public Health, nr 18(19), 10061. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph181910061.

Dekel, B. i Abrahams, N. (2021). ‘I will rather be killed by corona than by him…’: Experiences of abused women seeking shelter during South Af-rica’s COVID-19 lockdown. PLoS One, 16(10):e0259275. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259275.

Fabbri, C., Bhatia, A., Petzold, M., Jugder, M., Guedes, A., Cappa, C. i Devries, K. (2021). Modelling the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on violent discipline against children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116(Pt 2):104897. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104897.

Garstang, J., Debelle, G., Anand, I., Armstrong, J., Botcher, E., Chaplin, H., Hallett, N., Morgans, C., Price, M., Tan, E.E.H., Tudor, E. i Taylor, J. (2020). Effect of COVID-19 lockdown on child protection medical assessments: a retrospective observational study in Birmingham, UK. BMJ Open, 10 (9):e042867. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042867.

Gebrewahd, G.T., Gebremeskel, G.G. i Tadesse, D.B. (2020). Intimate partner violence against reproductive age women during COVID-19 pandemic in northern Ethiopia 2020: a community-based cross-sectional study. Reproductive Health, 17(1), 152. DOI: 10.1186/s12978-020-01002-w.

Haq, W., Raza, S.H. i Mahmood, T. (2020). The pandemic paradox: do-mestic violence and happiness of women. PeerJ, Nov 24;8:e10472. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10472.

Hilus, A. (2020). Wyzwania dla ośrodków pomocy społecznej w trakcie pandemii COVID-19. W: N.G. Pikuła, M. Grewiński, E. Zdebska i W. Glac (red.), Wybrane krajowe i międzynarodowe aspekty polityki społecznej w czasie pandemii koronawirusa. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Scriptum, 165-176. Pozyskano z: https://iss.up.krakow.pl/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2021/02/biss_12_e-book.pdf (dostęp: 02.01.2022).

Hoehn-Velasco, L., Silverio-Murillo, A. i de la Miyar, J.R.B. (2021). The great crime recovery: Crimes against women during, and after, the COVID-19 lockdown in Mexico. Economics and Human Biology, May 41, 100991. DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.100991.

Hsu, L.C. i Henke, A. (2020). COVID-19, staying at home, and domestic violence. Review of Economics of the Household, Nov 20, 1–11. DOI: 10.1007/s11150-020-09526-7.

Huq, M., Das,T., Devakumar, D., Daruwalla, N. i Osrin, D. (2021). Inter-sectional tension: a qualitative study of the effects of the COVID-19 response on survivors of violence against women in urban India. BMJ Open, 11(9), 1-10. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050381.

Iwińska, M. i Matejek, J. (2020). Pomoc i wsparcie rodziny z doświadczeniem przemocy w czasie pandemii. W: N.G. Pikuła, M. Grewiński, E. Zdebska i W. Glac (red.), Wyzwania dla polityki spo-łecznej w kontekście pandemii koronawirusa. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Scriptum, 89–108. Pozyskano z: https://iss.up.krakow.pl/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/06/e-book_biss_xi-1.pdf (dostęp: 03.01.2022).

Kofman, Y.B. i Garfin, D.R. (2020). Home is not always a haven: The do-mestic violence crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S199–S201. DOI: 10.1037/tra0000866.

Kourti, A., Stavridou, A., Panagouli, E., Psaltopoulou, T., Spiliopoulou, C., Tsolia, M., Sergentanis, T.N. i Tsitsika, A. (2021). Domestic Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review. Trauma, Vio-lence, & Abuse, Aug 17, 1–27. DOI: 10.1177/15248380211038690.

Liu, P.J., Wang, A., Schwab-Reese, L.M. i Stratton, S.K. (2021). Elder Mis-treatment Victims during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Administrative Data from San Francisco Adult Protective Services. Journal of Family Violence, 1–14. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-021-00305-1.

Machlin, L., Gruhn, M.A., Miller, A.B., Milojevich, H.M., Motton, S., Find-ley, A.M., Patel, K., Mitchell, A., Martinez, D.N. i Sheridan, M.A. (2021). Predictors of family violence in North Carolina following initial COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Child Abuse & Neglect, Oct 25, 105376. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105376.

McLay, M.M. When “Shelter-in-Place” Isn’t Shelter That’s Safe: a Rapid Analysis of Domestic Violence Case Differences during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Stay-at-Home Orders. Journal of Family Violence, Jan 7:1–10. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-020-00225-6.

Muldoon, K.A., Denize, K.M., Talarico, R., Fell, D.B., Sobiesiak, A., Heimerl, M. i Sampsel, K. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic and violence: rising risks and decreasing urgent care-seeking for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. BMC Medicine, 19(1), 20. DOI: 10.1186/s12916-020-01897-z.

Musser, E.D., Riopelle, C. i Latham, R. (2021). Child maltreatment in the time of COVID-19: Changes in the Florida foster care system sur-rounding the COVID-19 safer-at-home order. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116(Pt 2):104945. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.104945.

Piquero, A.R., Riddel, J.R., Bishopp, S.A., Narvey, C., Reid, J.A. i Piquero, N.L. (2020). Staying Home, Staying Safe? A Short-Term Analysis of COVID-19 on Dallas Domestic Violence. American Journal of Criminal Justice, Jun 14, 1–35. DOI: 10.1007/s12103-020-09531-7.

Platt, V.B., Guedert, J.M. i Coelho, E.B.S. (2020). Violence against chil-dren and adolescents: notification and alert in times of pandemic. Re-vista Paulista de Pediatria, Oct 28, 39:e2020267. DOI: 10.1590/1984-0462/2021/39/2020267.

Rashid Soron, T., Ashiq, M.A.R., Al-Hakeem, M., Chowdhury, Z.F.,Uddin Ahmed, H. i Afrooz Chowdhury, C. (2021). Domestic Violence and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh. JMIR Formative Research, 5(9), 5–15. DOI: 10.2196/24624.

Sacco, M.A., Caputo, F., Ricci, P., Sicilia, F., De Aloe, L., Bonetta, C.F., Cordasco, F., Scalise, C., Cacciatore, G., Zibetti, A., Gratteri, S. i Aquila, I. (2020). The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic violence: The dark side of home isolation during quarantine. Medi-co-Legal Journal, 88(2), 71–73. DOI: 10.1177/0025817220930553.

Sinko, L., He, Y., Kishton, R., Ortiz, R., Jacobs, L. i Fingerman, M. (2021). “The Stay at Home Order is Causing Things to Get Heated Up”: Family Conflict Dynamics During COVID-19 From The Perspectives of Youth Calling a National Child Abuse Hotline. Journal of Family Violence, Jun 8, 1–10. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-021-00290-5.

Sorenson, S.B., Sinko, L. i Berk, R.A. (2021). The Endemic Amid the Pan-demic: Seeking Help for Violence Against Women in the Initial Phases of COVID-19. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(9–10), 4899-4915. DOI: 10.1177/0886260521997946.

Tierolf, B., Geurts, E. i Steketee, M. (2021). Domestic violence in families in the Netherlands during the coronavirus crisis: A mixed method study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116 (Pt2): 104800. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020. 1048 00.

Williams, E.E., Arant, K.R., Leifer, V.P., Balcom, M.C., Levy-Carrick, N.C., Lewis-O’Connor, A. i Katz, J.N. (2021). Provider perspectives on the provision of safe, equitable, trauma-informed care for intimate part-ner violence survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study. BMC Womens Health, 21(1), 315. DOI: 10.1186/s12905-021-01460-9.

Wolf, J.P., Freisthler, B. i Chadwick, C. (2021). Stress, alcohol use, and punitive parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Child Abuse & Ne-glect, Jul; 117:105090. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105090.

Ustawa o przeciwdziałaniu przemocy w rodzinie z dnia 29 lipca 2005 r. Pozyskano z: https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/download.xsp/WDU20051801493/O/D20051493.pdf (dostęp: 05.01.2022).

Published
2022-09-27
How to Cite
[1]
Ławska, W. and Makara-Studzińska, M. 2022. Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview of Current Literature. Perspectives on Culture. 42, 3 (Sep. 2022), 535-548. DOI:https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2023.4203.31.

Most read articles by the same author(s)