Skip to main content

Table 1 Summary table of included studies

From: Interventions for women who report domestic violence during and after pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic literature review

No.

Author, year

Study design

Study participants

Data collection tools used

Type of intervention

Effect of intervention on domestic violence

Effect of intervention on health

1.

Cripe 2010

Randomised controlled trial (two-arm trial with individual randomisation)

220 pregnant women attending antenatal care; aged 18–45 years old, between 12- and 26-weeks’ gestation.

110 women were randomly assigned to each intervention arm.

Modified Abuse Assessment Screen; Short Form Health Survey (SF-36); Modified Safety Behaviour Checklist; Modified community resource use assessment.

Counselling

Standard intervention – details of organisations providing support

Empowerment intervention – 30 min interview.

Not assessed.

Women had higher scores for physical functioning, physical and emotional scales, vitality, and social functioning at post-intervention interview. Increase in number of women who adopted safety behaviours in intervention arm (1.8 to 30.3%). Women were more likely to seek help from community resources, particularly from the church and the police.

2.

Matseke 2013

Pre/post-intervention

160 pregnant women attending primary healthcare clinics for HIV post-test counselling aged 18 years or older.

160 women were assessed pre-intervention; 82 women followed up post-intervention (52.5% retention rate).

Authors own screening form; Danger Assessment Scale (20 item questionnaire).

Counselling

Twenty minute one-to-one intervention and 3 months follow-up.

The pre-intervention mean danger assessment score declined significantly from 6.0 to 2.8 after 3 months (p < 0.001).

Not assessed.

3.

Turan 2013

Mixed methods evaluation:

Cross-sectional study focus group and in-depth interviews

134 pregnant women attending antenatal care, post-intervention evaluation: Clinic staff and community volunteers (two focus groups; n = 17, male and female)

Anonymous risk assessment form; focus group discussions and in-depth interviews using own topic guides.

Routine screening and referral programme.

Not assessed.

Community awareness on domestic violence increased; community collaboration helped to find local solutions for victims, particularly in rural and low-resource settings. The intervention aided pregnant women in accessing domestic violence services; particularly for rural women who had less access to services. 53% of women reporting violence accepted referrals to local support resources.

4.

Krishnan 2012

Qualitative: focus group discussions and in-depth interviews

Two study groups: 20 pregnant women attending antenatal care or in the local community, aged 18 to 30 years; and 20 mothers-in-law participants

Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews using own topic guides.

Counselling

Two 3-h sessions with daughters-in-law

Five 3-h sessions with mothers-in-law

One joint 3-h with both.

Not assessed.

Daughter-in-laws (pregnant participants) reported an increase in family support, as relationships with their mothers-in-law had improved.

5.

Mutisya 2018

Quasi-experiment

288 pregnant women attending antenatal care alone; aged 18–45 years old; in the first or second trimester of pregnancy.

144 women were randomly assigned to each intervention arm.

Abuse Assessment Screen; a modified pregnancy version of the Composite Abuse Scale; Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

Counselling

A minimum of three 30–35 min sessions over four months.

After adjusting for baseline scores, the differences in violence and physical violence scores between the intervention and control group were significant (p < 0.001), with small effect sizes (0.196 and 0.305, respectively).

After adjusting for baseline scores, the intervention group had significantly lower mean antepartum depression scores (measured as EDPS ≥13) compared to the usual care post-intervention, F (1,280) = 106.25, p < 0.001, with a medium between the groups with an effect size of 0.500.

6.

Akor 2019

Single-blinded randomised controlled trial (two-arm trial with individual randomisation)

72 pregnant women attending for antenatal care; most women aged 20–34 years old (86%), less than 34 weeks gestation.

36 women were randomly assigned to each intervention arm.

Abuse Assessment Scale; Systematic clinical outcome and routine evaluation, SCORE-15.

Counselling

Three counselling sessions at two-weekly intervals; incorporated into routine antenatal visits.

Not assessed.

Family function was assessed across three dimensions: family communication, family support and family difficulty. Women in the intervention group had an improved mean family function score (2.92 0.92 to 2.16 0.63; this improvement was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Women in the control group had an improvement in mean family score, but this change was not statistically significant (p < 0.116).