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Violence Against Women During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Study from a Turkish Emergency Department

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2022

İmran Gökçen Yılmaz Karaman Open the ORCID record for İmran Gökçen Yılmaz Karaman [Opens in a new window] ,
Zeynep Akı ,
Mustafa Emin Çanakçı Open the ORCID record for Mustafa Emin Çanakçı [Opens in a new window] ,
Ali Ercan Altınöz  and
Engin Özakın Open the ORCID record for Engin Özakın [Opens in a new window]
İmran Gökçen Yılmaz Karaman*
Affiliation:
Psychiatrist, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskişehir, Turkey
Zeynep Akı
Affiliation:
Medical Doctor, Emergency Medicine Trainee, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Emergency, Eskişehir, Turkey
Mustafa Emin Çanakçı
Affiliation:
Emergency Medicine Specialist, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Emergency, Eskişehir, Turkey
Ali Ercan Altınöz
Affiliation:
Psychiatrist, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskişehir, Turkey
Engin Özakın
Affiliation:
Emergency Medicine Specialist, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Emergency, Eskişehir, Turkey
*
Correspondence: Dr. İmran Gökçen Yılmaz Karaman, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskişehir, Turkey, E-mail: gokcenylmz@yahoo.com
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Abstract

Objective:

Violence against women (VAW) is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has worsened gender inequality, resulting in a heightened incidence of VAW. This study aims to assess the characteristics of women who admit to the emergency department (ED), both before the pandemic and during the pandemic. The secondary aim is to compare the frequencies of violence cases between periods.

Methods:

By single-center, retrospective, and cross-sectional design, the periods of April 10 - December 31, 2020 and April 10 - December 31, 2019 were compared. The outcomes of the study were the daily ED admission numbers of both sexes, the prevalence of VAW cases in the ED, as well as sociodemographic and clinical variables of the women who were exposed to violence.

Results:

During the pandemic period, number of VAW cases in the ED increased 13% and the ratio of VAW cases to all ED admissions tripled compared to the pre-pandemic period. Women exposed to VAW were more likely to be without social insurance, injured in the trunk part of their body, and having a life-threatening injury in the pandemic period. In both periods, women were attacked by an intimate partner, dominantly (42.6% and 54.1%, respectively). In addition, among all admissions of adults to the ED, women’s percentage decreased while men’s admission ratios increased during the pandemic period. Admissions to ED declined 47.7% during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the year before.

Conclusion:

Cases of VAW tend to increase during the pandemic, and health care settings should be well-organized to respond to survivors.

Keywords

COVID-19emergency departmentpandemicviolence against women
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , August 2022 , pp. 462 - 467
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine

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