What is intimate partner violence (IPV)?
IPV means physical, mental or sexual abuse by ones current or previous partner. 1 in 3 women and at least 1 in 4 men report experiencing IPV in their lifetime. IPV is one of the leading causes of both non-fatal injury and homicide globally and leads to various adverse health outcomes including acute injuries, functional disorders, mental-health problems, disability and even death. World Bank has estimated the overall yearly costs of IPV to be around 1,2 to 2% of GDP, meaning yearly costs of 2000-4000 million euros in Finland. Still, little is known about secondary prevention of IPV and evidence is lacking on how to efficiently reduced the negative effect of IPV on health.
As the first part of the FINTERCEPT, we are collaborating with the world-renown Center for Evidence-Based Orthopaedics at McMaster University by participating in PRAISE-2, the extension of the prestigious PRAISE (Prospective Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence Surgical Evaluation Study) project.
What is PRAISE-2?
PRAISE-2 is a pilot prospective cohort study of 300 women with fractures. It aims to determine the feasibility of a large multinational cohort study to examine surgical outcomes among those injured women who report, or do not report, a history of abuse. PRAISE-2 is the first study to evaluate differences in orthopaedic outcomes between abused and non-abused women and preliminarily assess whether an injury can lead to worsening abuse by an intimate partner.
We recruited 24 female patients for the study at the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of Helsinki University Hospital.
Why is PRAISE-2 needed?
The original PRAISE-1 study that included 2,945 women globally found that 1 in 6 women in fracture clinics had experienced IPV in the year prior to being enrolled in the study and 1 in 50 women presented to the fracture clinic for IPV-related injuries.
IPV is the leading cause of musculoskeletal injury of women in the North America. Despite this, there have been no studies that explored whether personal circumstances associated with musculosceletal injury can trigger or worsen IPV and no studies on how experiences of IPV affect specific injury outcomes, such as injury healing, adverse events, and return to pre-injury function.
What are the future goals of FINTERCEPT project?
FINTERCEPT is geared at gathering information on the knowledge and perceptions of various professionals who encounter and assist IPV victims as a part of their daily practice on IPV. We will explore new approaches on fostering collaboration between all professionals involved in the secondary prevention of IPV to efficiently diminish the negative health effects of IPV. As a part of FINTERCEPT project, we are also developing digital learning material for these professionals to improve their skills in recognizing and helping the IPV victims.
Where are we now?
So far, we have published:
The editorial of the Duodecim medical journal
