Scientific Meeting 2023 - Lightning Talks Day 3

Wednesday, March 15
09:00am to 09:45pm

Presenter: Myint, Wah, W

Systematic review of Interventions for substance uses among women who had intimate partner violence

Myint, Wah, W; Alquiza, Abigail; Espinosa, Andrea; Harber, Taylor; Markentell, Emily; Marshall, Grace; Nguyen, Angela; Solis, Isabella; Hossain, M.Mahbub; Ma, Ping

Purpose: Substance use interventions targeting women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) are limited, despite the alarmingly rising trend of substance use among these women. The purpose of this systematic review was to understand the effectiveness of current substance use interventions for women IPV survivors.

Methods: A systematic search of CINAHL Complete, Academic Search Ultimate, APA PsycInfo, Gender Studies Database, Health Policy Reference Center, MEDLINE Complete, and Violence and Abuse Abstracts was conducted from January 1, 2009 to May 30, 2022. Search terms related to substance use interventions and IPV were included. Studies published in English that involved ≥ 50% of women IPV survivors and had an outcome of either abstinence or reduction of any type of substance were eligible to be reviewed. Two independent reviewers extracted data based on PRISMA guidelines and assessed the quality of eligible studies. Narrative data syntheses were conducted.

Results: A total of eight studies met the inclusion criteria, with 2,242 women IPV survivors enrolled in substance use interventions. The majority of studies were conducted in the U.S. and had excellent or good quality. We found that 75% of studies used Randomized Controlled Trial design and 50% of studies were delivered in the clinical setting. More than half of included studies focused on any type of substance, whereas some studies exclusively targeted alcohol use during pregnancy or binge drinking. The abstinence and reduction rates of targeted substances varied based on intervention type, methodology, and follow-up length. Comprehensive services including cognitive behavior therapy and psychosocial support have demonstrated significant effectiveness in improving substance abuse

Conclusion: Comprehensive services appear to be a promising intervention strategy. More intervention studies targeting substance use among women with adverse life experiences should be developed. Further research examining long-term effectiveness of substance use reduction or abstinence among women IPV survivors is warranted.