The long-term effects of head trauma in women who experience domestic violence is to be the subject of another new study, as international efforts to better understand how to increase support continue.
In a United States-based study, four universities – Harvard, Penn State, Rutgers and Utah – are coming together to examine the impact on women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV).
The five-year project is being backed by $4million by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is the first-ever study on this topic funded by the organisation.
It continues the growing emphasis on investigations into women and IPV – which statistics indicate is experienced by one in three women during their lifetime – and is the latest international study to better understand the matter and create bespoke support.
“There is a growing emphasis in the clinical neurosciences that we need to represent sex as a biological variable,” said Professor Frank Hillary, Penn State professor of psychology and one of the project’s principal investigators.
“There are hormone differences, brain structure differences and other differences between men and women that up to now haven’t been considered in studies related to head trauma.
“Even in animal models of traumatic brain injury, studies have historically focused on males or even treated ‘femaleness’ as a confound. This has led to significant problems with translation because, obviously, half of the population is not male.”
The project – Identifying the Cognitive, Psychological, and Neuroimaging Signatures of Head Trauma in Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence – has been hailed as a much-needed piece of research.
For Prof Hillary, who has been studying the brain and brain injuries for more than 20 years, this is a significant and long overdue shift in focus onto a vital topic.
“Many millions of dollars have been spent to understand the consequences of two men volitionally running into each other in sport. Meanwhile, the rate of head injury, even mild head injury in women due to intimate partner violence, is far greater, yet funding and research remains relatively rare,” he said.
“The most commonly reported statistic regarding IPV is that one in three women experience IPV in their lifetime,” said Professor Amy Marshall, Penn State professor of psychology and a co-investigator on the project.
“However, I find it more telling that when researchers ask about more recent experiences, the most well-designed epidemiological studies report that nearly 20 per cent of US women who are in a relationship have experienced IPV during the past year.
“These rates are even higher among younger women (e.g., 45 per cent of women aged 18-29), women in dating relationships, and during stressful times in one’s relationship such as when parenting young children.
“The experience of IPV results in far-reaching negative physical, psychological, occupational, and social consequences. Many of these outcomes are not just for the survivor, but also for future generations and society more generally.”
The research teams will work with women’s centres in the US to find around 200 women — none of whom are in a current aggressive or violent relationship — to be part of the study.
The women will take part in structured interviews and be given the opportunity to tell their stories, after which they will be given a series of cognitive tests followed by magnetic resonance imaging tests to examine brain structure and function.
The investigators will follow the women over time to understand the long-term impacts of the head trauma.
“Those who participate in our study will learn what traumatic brain injury is, what the symptoms are like, what symptom resolution is and what to look for if those symptoms are not resolving,” Prof Hillary said.
“These are repeated, illegal acts of violence, which makes access and increasing awareness challenging, but we hope to educate women about head injury and its consequences.
“The data may also help inform policies about intimate partner violence going forward. For example, as we have seen in some sports, there may be long-term consequences of repeated head trauma such as neurodegeneration or Alzheimer’s disease.
“The data will help us to provide critical information to service agencies and other organisations so they can learn how to better help victims.”
Prof Marshall added: “My hope is that this research will help to decrease victim blaming and women’s own self-blame.
“Possibly, with greater understanding of the impact of IPV-related traumatic brain injury, the social and mental health consequences can be lessened while we also find the best ways to treat the physical and cognitive consequences.”
