Peer-reviewed article
Identifying the Impact of Intimate Partner Violence in Humanitarian Settings: Using an Ecological Framework to Review 15 Years of Evidence
Melissa Meinhart, Ilana Seff, Katrina Troy, Samantha McNelly, Luissa Vahedi et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examined 51 studies over 15 years to understand how intimate partner violence affects people in humanitarian crises. The research found strong evidence that intimate partner violence causes serious physical and mental health problems for survivors, and also identified intergenerational impacts on children. The review reveals major gaps in understanding non-health impacts of violence and calls for better research and humanitarian responses that prioritize the needs of women and girls.
Key points
- Intimate partner violence is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes for survivors in humanitarian settings
- The review identified intergenerational impacts of intimate partner violence in humanitarian contexts
- Significant evidence gaps exist regarding non-health impacts of intimate partner violence for survivors
- Current humanitarian responses may be underachieving due to limited understanding of violence impacts
- Research and investment should address both health and non-health impacts across individual, family and community levels
Limitations
This review focuses on humanitarian settings but does not evaluate a specific intervention; therefore it cannot tell us what works to reduce intimate partner violence or support survivors. The review also does not provide quantitative synthesis of effect sizes across studies.
Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive form of gender-based violence that exacerbates in humanitarian settings. This systematic review examined the myriad IPV impacts and the quality of existing evidence of IPV in humanitarian settings. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) procedures, a total of 51 articles were included from the 3924 screened. We identified the impact of IPV across two levels of the ecological framework: individual and microsystem. Our findings corroborated previous evidence that indicated IPV to be associated with adverse physical and mental health for survivors. Our findings also uniquely synthesized the intergenerational impact of IPV in humanitarian settings. However, findings highlighted a glaring gap in evidence examining the non-health impact of IPV for survivors in humanitarian settings and across levels of the ecological framework. Without enhanced research of women and girls and the violence they experience, humanitarian responses will continue to underachieve, and the needs of women and girls will continue to be relegated as secondary interests. Investment should prioritize addressing the range of both health and non-health impacts of IPV among individuals, families, and communities, as well as consider how the humanitarian environment influences these linkages.