Trauma-related symptoms and severity among women in the Pacific Rim.

Current understandings of the effects trauma exposure on women's health are limited because prior research has largely focused on intimate partner and sexual violence in homogenous samples. In this descriptive study, the authors examined the relationships between lifetime trauma exposure and psychological well-being among women across the Pacific Rim. Psychological well-being differed significantly between the four locations and increased trauma exposures were related to poorer psychological well-being across and within locations. The authors report relevant findings on the relationship between trauma exposure and psychological well-being and provide evidence for future research to enhance knowledge on the effects of trauma in women's lives.

Translation and adaptation of the life stressor checklist-revised with Colombian women.

We undertook the translation and adaptation of an instrument developed to measure women's lifetime trauma exposure, the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R), in order to determine its utility and cultural appropriateness with Colombian Spanish-speaking women. The LSC-R was forward and backward translated and administered to a sample (N = 217) of community-based women volunteers in Medellín, Colombia. Open-ended questions were included to assess the construct validity and cultural appropriateness of the LSC-R. The LSC-R was found to be valid and easily understood. Trauma exposure was common, but its assessment was not overly distressing to Colombian women.

[Types and severity of partner violence against women living in the community in Cali, Colombia]. / Violencia de pareja en mujeres de la comunidad, tipos y severidad Cali, Colombia.

OBJECTIVE: Identifying the incidence and severity of types of intimate partner violence against women exposed to this in their communities and the pertinent socio-demographic characteristics. METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 150 women suffering intimate partner violence. The Severity of Violence Against Women Scale was used to explore demographic variables, e.g. age, sex, socioeconomic status, educational level, marital status and occupation. RESULTS: Mean age was 37 years, 74 % were mestizos, 68 % were living in socioeconomic groups 2 and 3, 43 % were living with a permanent partner and 31 % had experienced violence by other people than their intimate partner. There was high exposure (96.3 %) to more than one type of violence; 88% had suffered physical and 53 % sexual threats. All types were correlated with each other (r ranged from 0.42 to 0.84 (p <0.01)). Socioeconomic status had a significant negative correlation with threats of violence (p><0.01) and positive correlation with physical violence (p><0.01); other socio-demographic variables did not correlate. CONCLUSION: Psychosocial factors are heavily involved in the phenomenon. Screening and intervening in forms of violence other than physical ones means protecting women and reducing the harm being done to them and alleviating their suffering. It is vital that interventions should be undertaken for preventing different types of violence according to socioeconomic group and accompany women and their assailants in recognising such violence and seeking help.

Violencia de pareja en mujeres de la comunidad, tipos y severidad Cali, Colombia / Types and severity of partner violence against women living in the community in Cali, Colombia

Objetivo: Identificar características socio-demográficas, tipos y severidad de vio-lencia de pareja en mujeres de la comunidad. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo transversal en 150 mujeres expuestas a violencia. Se uso la Escala de Severidad de Violencia contra la Mujer, coeficiente Alfa de 0.89, se diseño un cuestionario para explorar variables socio-demográficas: edad, sexo, estrato socio-económico, nivel de estudios, estado civil, ocupación. Resultados: Edad promedio 37 años, mestizas 74 %, estrato socioeconómico 2 y 3 en el 68 %. El 43 % tenía unión libre, experimentó violencia por personas diferentes al compañero sentimental el 31 %. Experimentó amenazas el 96.3 %, violencia física 88 % y sexual 53 %. Todos los tipos se correlacionaron entre sí, r de 0,42 a 0,84 (p < 0,01). El estrato socioeconómico correlacionó negativa y significativamente con amenaza de violencia (p< 0,01) y positivamente con violencia física (p< 0,01). Otros aspectos socio-demográficos no correlacionaron. Conclusión: Los factores psicosociales aparecen con gran implicación en el fenómeno. Valorar e intervenir formas de violencia diferentes a la física implica proteger, reducir daño y sufrimiento a la mujer, vital enfatizar intervenciones para la prevención de diferentes tipos de violencia según el nivel socioeconómico y acompañar a la mujer y al agresor en el reconocimiento de la violencia y búsqueda de ayuda.

Objective: Identifying the incidence and severity of types of intimate partner vio-lence against women exposed to this in their communities and the pertinent socio-demographic characteristics. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 150 women suffering intimate partner violence. The Severity of Violence Against Women Scale was used to explore demographic variables, e.g. age, sex, socioeconomic status, educatio-nal level, marital status and occupation. Results: Mean age was 37 years, 74 % were mestizos, 68 % were living in so-cioeconomic groups 2 and 3, 43 % were living with a permanent partner and 31 % had experienced violence by other people than their intimate partner. There was high exposure (96.3 %) to more than one type of violence; 88% had suffered physical and 53 % sexual threats. All types were correlated with each other (r ranged from 0.42 to 0.84 (p <0.01)). Socioeconomic status had a significant negative correlation with threats of violence (p><0.01) and positive correlation with physical violence (p><0.01); other socio-demographic variables did not correlate. Conclusion: Psychosocial factors are heavily involved in the phenomenon. Scree-ning and intervening in forms of violence other than physical ones means pro-tecting women and reducing the harm being done to them and alleviating their suffering. It is vital that interventions should be undertaken for preventing different types of violence according to socioeconomic group and accompany women and their assailants in recognising such violence and seeking help.