PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects our most vulnerable: mothers and children. One in four women and one in seven men will experience abuse by their partner in their lifetime, but it is especially common among women of reproductive age, and it gets worse during pregnancy.
IPV is a bit different from domestic violence. It specifically zeros in on a pattern of abuse or aggression between two romantic partners, whereas domestic violence can involve any family member.
Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say utilizing services from a cross-section of prevention organizations can reduce the toll of IPV.
Stephanie Garcia, research associate at CHOP’s PolicyLab, said addressing the issue requires a strong prevention foundation, with support for families to keep them safe and to respond when violence has already happened.
“We’re focusing on our early childhood home-visiting programs, in partnership with intimate partner violence agencies who provide the actual kind of counseling and direct service support for families who have already experienced abuse,” she explained.
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Abuse experienced during pregnancy, in particular, presents safety concerns. Over the last five years in Philadelphia, one in five deaths during pregnancy were women with histories of IPV.
“Things like delayed prenatal care, maternal depression and pregnancy complications — these all become more complicated when there is a child involved,” she said. “It’s an issue between adults; it’s most certainly also a family and a children’s and a community issue.”
The collaboration between local IPV agencies — including PolicyLab, Maternity Care Coalition and the city’s Office of Domestic Violence Strategies — has grown over the last three years to create wrap-around prevention efforts. At the time, Garcia said those groups had really not talked to either, formally or informally.
“And so now, this kind of relationship-building piece has really taken off, which is such an important first step,” she said.
“We can see that it’s very critical to have an infrastructure of support there to both identify and support women and their families who might be going through this.”
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More information can be found at policylab.chop.edu.