Trauma, violence & abuse
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Trauma, violence & abuse · Apr 2015
ReviewUse and misuse of research in books on sex trafficking: implications for interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners, and advocates.
Recent articles have raised important questions about the validity of prevalence data on human trafficking, exposing flawed methodologies behind frequently cited statistics. While considerable evidence points to the fact that human trafficking does exist in the United States and abroad, many sources of literature continue to cite flawed data and some misuse research in ways that seemingly inflate the problem, which can have serious implications for anti-trafficking efforts, including victim services and anti-trafficking legislation and policy. ⋯ The findings from this review reveal that the vast majority of published books do rely on existing data that were not rigorously produced and therefore may be misleading or at minimum, inaccurate. Implications for practice, research, and policy are discussed, as well as recommendations for future prevalence studies on human trafficking.
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Trauma, violence & abuse · Jan 2014
Dowry in 21st-century India: the sociocultural face of exploitation.
The World Health Organization (2009) implicates deep-rooted cultural and social norms as influential contributing factors toward physical and intimate partner violence against women. The dowry system is a social practice that perpetuates the oppression, torture, and murder of women in India. The practice of dowry is an expected part of marriage in cultures where arranged marriages are the norm. ⋯ In India, in spite of laws prohibiting the practice, not much has changed over the last 30 years. The National Crime Records Bureau of India, recorded a total of 8,618 female deaths related to dowry disputes in 2011, and the Asian Women's Human Rights Council (2009) estimates that the practice of dowry is implicated in 25,000 deaths and maiming of women between the ages of 15-34 in India every year. The current review of literature reveals that despite efforts on the part of the Indian government, social activists and feminists organizations in India, not much has changed over the past decade, in fact, the problem has increased, resulting in an unprecedented amount of mortality and morbidity among women in India.
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Trauma, violence & abuse · Oct 2011
ReviewConceptualizing mindfulness and acceptance as components of psychological resilience to trauma.
Mindfulness- and acceptance-based conceptualizations of PTSD implicate experiential avoidance and non-mindful behavior in the etiology and maintenance of the disorder. If experiential avoidance is associated with vulnerability to PTSD, then a mindful and accepting orientation toward experience may confer psychological resilience following exposure to trauma. ⋯ This review suggests that trait mindfulness and acceptance are associated with greater psychological adjustment following exposure to trauma, while experiential avoidance, persistent dissociation, and coping strategies involving emotional disengagement are associated with greater PTSD symptom severity and related psychopathology. Methodological challenges are explored and suggestions for future research and PTSD prevention programs are discussed.
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Trauma, violence & abuse · Apr 2011
ReviewThe prevalence of sexual assault against people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual in the United States: a systematic review.
This article systematically reviews 75 studies that examine the prevalence of sexual assault victimization among gay or bisexual (GB) men, and lesbian or bisexual (LB) women, in the United States. All studies were published between 1989 and 2009 and report the results of quantitative research. The authors reviewed the reported prevalence of lifetime sexual assault victimization (LSA), and where available, childhood sexual assault (CSA), adult sexual assault (ASA), intimate partner sexual assault (IPSA), and hate crime-related sexual assault (HC). ⋯ Across all studies, the highest estimates reported were for LSA of LB women (85.0%), CSA of LB women (76.0%), and CSA of GB men (59.2%). With some exceptions, studies using non-probability samples reported higher sexual assault prevalence rates than did population-based or census sample studies. The challenges of assessing sexual assault victimization with GLB populations are discussed, as well as the implications for practice, policy, and future research.
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Trauma, violence & abuse · Apr 2010
Review Meta AnalysisPattern of physical injury associated with intimate partner violence in women presenting to the emergency department: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
To examine patterns of physical injury associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) among women presenting to emergency room departments. ⋯ Among women presenting to emergency room departments, unwitnessed head, neck, or facial injuries are significant markers for IPV. Conversely, extremity injuries are less likely to have been the consequence of IPV.