Examining the Association between Intimate Partner Violence and Suicidal Ideation among Women Living with HIV in a Low- and Middle-Income Country

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicidality are intersecting social problems. However, limited studies have examined IPV and suicidality among socially marginalized women, such as women living with HIV (WLHIV), or in low- and middle-income countries, where social services vary widely. This paper seeks to fill this gap by exploring the association between IPV and suicidal ideation among a sample of WLHIV. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 249 WLHIV across five regions of Kazakhstan, Central Asia. Both IPV (50.2%) and suicidal ideation (40.5%) were common. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated critical associations between all types of IPV and suicidal ideation: verbal (aOR = 2.5, p <.05); psychological (aOR = 3.3, p <.01); physical (aOR = 2.3, p <.05); sexual (aOR = 3.6, p <.01); injurious (aOR = 4.6, p <.01); and any IPV (aOR = 2.3, p <.05). Consistently significant covariates included marital status, social support, injection drug use, and HIV-related stigma (p <.05). Findings suggest a need to examine the crossover pathways and rates of IPV, HIV, and suicidality. Implications include the need for increased capacity building among providers to address these co-occurring problems through comprehensive assessments, safety planning, and linkage to care.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimate partner violence
• suicidality
• HIV
• Central Asia
• LMICs

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank The KAZ Network of Women LWHA for their partnership and work on this project.

Disclosure of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).