Violence against brown and black women during the pandemic: a scoping review

This is a scoping review carried out in the National Library of Medicine, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science, Excerpa Medica DataBASE, PsycINFO – APA PsycNET and Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences databases. Studies on interpersonal violence against brown and black women after the COVID-19 pandemic decree, perpetrated by an intimate partner, published from 2020 onwards in Portuguese, Spanish or English, were included. Editorials, response letters, retractions and studies focused on self-inflicted violence were excluded. Descriptive analysis was carried out.

Results

A total of 26 studies were obtained, and after selection, a sample of eight articles was obtained, published between 2020 and 2022. The results showed mostly North American studies, however, they pointed to intimate partner violence against brown and black women as a global phenomenon during the pandemic. The victims presented multiple conditions of vulnerability and encountered several barriers to accessing health and public safety services, including racism. Prevention and control measures were scarce and had consequences for women’s overall health.

Conclusion

The phenomenon was characterized as a global problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individual, collective and political coping strategies were created by the victims. Public policies to prevent and control intimate partner violence were not adequately implemented in many countries during the pandemic. Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/bdsf7/

Violence against women; Intimate partner violence; Gender-based violence; Black; COVID-19

PubMed/Web of Science/Embase/PsycINFO*	LILACS***	CINAHL****
(“gender identity”[MeSH Terms] OR (“gender”[All Fields] AND “identity”[All Fields]) OR “gender identity”[All Fields] OR “gendered”[All Fields] OR “gender s”[All Fields] OR “gendering”[All Fields] OR “genderized”[All Fields] OR “genders”[All Fields] OR “sex”[MeSH Terms] OR “sex”[All Fields] OR “gender”[All Fields]) AND (“covid 19”[All Fields] OR “covid 19”[MeSH Terms] OR “covid 19 vaccines”[All Fields] OR “covid 19 vaccines”[MeSH Terms] OR “covid 19 serotherapy”[All Fields] OR “covid 19 nucleic acid testing”[All Fields] OR “covid 19 nucleic acid testing”[MeSH Terms] OR “covid 19 serological testing”[All Fields] OR “covid 19 serological testing”[MeSH Terms] OR “covid 19 testing”[All Fields] OR “covid 19 testing”[MeSH Terms] OR “sars cov 2”[All Fields] OR “sars cov 2”[MeSH Terms] OR “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2”[All Fields] OR “ncov”[All Fields] OR “2019 ncov”[All Fields] OR ((“coronavirus”[MeSH Terms] OR “coronavirus”[All Fields] OR “cov”[All Fields]) AND (“violence”[MeSH Terms] OR “violence”[All Fields] OR “violence s”[All Fields] OR “violences”[All Fields]) AND (“womans”[All Fields] OR “women”[MeSH Terms] OR “women”[All Fields] OR “woman”[All Fields] OR “women s”[All Fields] OR “womens”[All Fields]) AND (“black or african american”[MeSH Terms] OR (“black”[All Fields] AND “or”[All Fields] AND “african”[All Fields] AND “american”[All Fields]) OR “black or african american”[All Fields] OR “blacks”[All Fields] OR “black people”[MeSH Terms] OR (“black”[All Fields] AND “people”[All Fields]) OR “black people”[All Fields] OR “black”[All Fields] OR “blackness”[All Fields])	(“violência contra a mulher” OR mulheres) AND (negros) AND (“covid-19” OR pandemia)	(Intimate Partner Violence OR “Gender-Based Violence) AND (Woman) AND (Black People), AND (covid 19 OR pandemic)

Authors/ title	Year/ country	Objective	Study design Sample Setting	Outcomes	Level of evidence*	Methodological quality
Ruiz A, Luebke J, Moore K, Vann AD, González Jr M, Ochoa-Nordstrum B et al.⁽¹⁶⁾ The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on help-seeking behaviours of Indigenous and Black women experiencing intimate partner violence in the United States	2022 USA	Discuss the barriers that indigenous and black women encounter when seeking help related to intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic	Reflection Sample: n/a Setting: n/a	Seeking help was hampered by geographic, jurisdictional, economic and structural barriers. Nurses can be facilitators of breaking down these barriers through their practices (such as nursing consultations in primary care) or through political leadership in situations of pandemics, disasters and other extraordinary circumstances.	VI	Moderate
Xue J, Chen J, Chen C, Hu R, Zhu T.⁽¹⁷⁾ The Hidden Pandemic of Family Violence During COVID-19: Unsupervised Learning of Tweets	2020 Several countries	Analyze the large-scale discourse on family violence and the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter.	Document analysis Sample: 1,015,874 Twitter messages Setting: n/a**	Extracted messages revealed an increase in the vulnerability of brown and black women to violence by intimate partners during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of isolation measures. The social network proved to be an important channel for reporting complaints and seeking support.	VI	High
Afif IN, Gobaud AN, Morrison CN, Jacoby SF, Maher Z, Dauer ED et al.⁽¹⁸⁾ The changing epidemiology of interpersonal firearm violence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Philadelphia	2022 USA	Describe the distribution and characteristics of firearm violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.	Cohort Sample: 876 people Setting: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Following the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a 39% increase in female victims of firearms. Black women were more likely to be shot than white women (RR 1.20 versus 1.02), substantially perpetrated by intimate partners. Changes in the epidemiology of injuries showed greater severity. Solutions to structural causes such as poverty and racism are needed.	IV	High
Tadesse AW, Tarekegn SM, Wagaw GB, Muluneh MD, Kassa AM.⁽¹⁹⁾ Prevalence and Associated Factors of Intimate Partner Violence Among Married Women During COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions: A Community-Based Study	2020 Ethiopia	Investigate the prevalence and factors associated with intimate partner violence against women during periods of restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.	Cross-sectional Sample: 617 women who are married or have an intimate partner Setting: Ethiopia	Around 22.4% of women suffered at least one form of intimate partner violence. Predictive factors were being illiterate, having an illiterate partner or having a low level of education and using alcohol and other drugs. The community’s tolerant attitude towards intimate partner violence was also a risk factor.	VI	High
Gordon E, Sauti G.⁽²⁰⁾ Reflections on intimate partner violence, its psycho-socio-cultural impact amidst COVID-19: comparing South Africa and the United States	2022 South Africa	Compare the psychological and sociocultural impacts of COVID-19 on victims of intimate partner violence in South Africa and the USA.	Reflection Sample: n/a Setting: n/a	In both South Africa and the USA, black women of low socioeconomic status were the main victims of intimate partner violence, with important psychological impacts. Isolated spaces with attackers made reporting difficult. Religious entities help black women victims of intimate partner violence during situations of isolation access psychological support services in both countries. There is a need to reinforce agendas on racial issues in the North American and South African governments.	VI	Moderate
Toccalino D, Haag H, Estrella M J, Cowle S, Fuselli P, Ellis MJ et al.⁽²¹⁾ The intersection of intimate partner violence and traumatic brain injury: finding from an emergency summit addressing system-level changes to better support women survivors	2022 Canada	Identify the main needs, facilitators and barriers to the care of women survivors of intimate partner violence with traumatic brain injury (TBI).	Qualitative Sample: 27 intimate partner violence specialists Setting: several	The COVID-19 pandemic has increased access barriers for black women to health services, including suspected TBI resulting from intimate partner violence. Past experiences of racism within the healthcare system have prevented black women from seeking care or returning to services.	VI	High
Murugan V, Weaver TL, Schafer T, Rich Q.⁽²²⁾ Crisis Work Embedded in a Global Crisis: The Early Phase Impact of COVID-19 on Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence and Service Provisions	2022 USA	Examine the effect of COVID-19 on survivors of intimate partner violence; assess the effect of the pandemic on the provision of services related to intimate partner violence; and explore post-pandemic opportunities in cases of intimate partner violence.	Qualitative Sample: 12 directors of shelters for victims of intimate partner violence Setting: Public institutions to protect people who are victims of violence	High unemployment rates among brown and black women during the COVID-19 pandemic worsened intimate partner violence and led to the search for shelters or protective institutions. Victims of intimate partner violence treated by these services did not seek out the police for fear of agents’ brutality and racist attitudes. The pandemic has brought to light the opportunity to speak more clearly about racial inequalities and social and economic disparities and how both reflect on the high rates of intimate partner violence among brown and black women.	VI	High
Bordoni PHC, Assis FH, Oliveira NA, Aguiar RA, Silva VC, Bordoni LS.⁽²³⁾ Violência física contra mulheres: estudos em três bases de dados nacionais e no contexto da COVID-19	2021 Brazil	Assess physical attacks against women that occurred in Minas Gerais in 2018 and during the COVID-19 pandemic (hospital admissions between March 2019 and August 2020).	Cross-sectional Sample: 1,063 women Setting: Public and private hospitals	During the COVID-19 pandemic, mixed-race and black women combined were the main victims of physical violence (51.5%) admitted to hospitals in Minas Gerais during the months of greatest restrictions. Intimate partners were the main perpetrators and used blunt objects against women (47.2%)	VI	Moderate

Escola Paulista de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de São Paulo R. Napoleão de Barros, 754, 04024-002 São Paulo - SP/Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 5576 4430 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: actapaulista@unifesp.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Corresponding author: Hugo Fernandes E-mail: hugoenf@yahoo.com.br