Intimate partner violence is associated with cognitive effects six months post-injury
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A recent article published in Journal of Neurotrauma found evidence of impairments in memory and new learning in women who have experienced intimate partner violence resulting in brain injury (IPV-BI) beyond six months post-injury. This group included women who had experienced both mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and non-fatal strangulation (NFS). Additionally, Researchers Jen Makovec Knight et al. found that women with more than 6 IPV-BIs scored lower than women with fewer or no IPV-BIs on some measures of cognitive function. The researchers also note that IPV survivors showed elevated rates of PTSD, depression, and anxiety, and that these rates were even higher among those with IPV-BI. The authors highlight the need for IPV-BI screening and neuropsychological assessments, as well as targeted interventions for women with IPV-BI. They recommend specific interventions, such as cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses on both psychoeducation and compensation strategies to address cognitive difficulties. Interventions like these can begin to support this underserved population. The researchers caution against making broad generalizations about survivors of IPV-BI and their cognitive abilities.
The researchers recruited 88 participants who had experienced intimate partner violence more than six months previously and 58 healthy controls. Participants completed demographic and biopsychosocial questionnaires, as well as cognitive and mental health assessments, administered by a neuropsychologist, clinical psychologist, or trained research assistant. Participants were grouped based on the frequency and type of IPV they had experienced (IPV-BI >6, IPV-BI 1-6, IPV without BI, and controls), and statistical methods were used to determine whether IPV was associated with long-term cognitive effects.
Cognitive effects were measured using several validated assessments known to be sensitive to the effects of TBI. These assessments included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test—Oral Version, and Trail Making Tests A and B. The Test of Premorbid Functioning was also included to estimate intellectual functioning prior to injury. Participants also completed the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire for IPV and assessments for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and substance abuse.
Limitations of this study are that identification of IPV-BI was based on self-reporting of brain injury, frequency of IPV-BIs was collected using ordinal reporting (ranges rather than a continuous scale), and the sample size was relatively small. The researchers also note that the study does not distinguish between the effects of mTBI and NFS, and does not account for all confounding variables, such as abuse severity.
