Building Evidence for Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Ukraine: Importance of Coping and Communication

Background: The global prevalence of women’s exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) ranges between 23% and 49%. IPV leads to physical injuries, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide attempts (Black et al., 2011). The fact that violence continues to cause suffering for so many women worldwide warrants a more comprehensive search for psychosocial tools that can be made available to social workers working with women at risk for IPV. Prior studies suggest interventions for women with IPV can enhance their coping and communication skills, lead to better self-esteem and reductions future IPV victimization (e.g., Segrin & Flora, 2011, Tutty, Bidgood, & Rothery, 1993). However, most of these findings come from countries with developed economies. Thus, this study aimed to examine the relationship between family communication, coping skills and IPV experience in a sample of Ukrainian women.

Methods: A community-based sample of 278 women between the ages 18 and 55 years (M = 36.85, SD = 5.63) from Eastern, Southern and Central Ukraine signed informed consent forms and participated in face-to-face interviews. The dependent variable was frequency of acts of physical, sexual, psychological violence during past 12 months measured with the revised version of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2; Straus et al., 1996; Straus, 1979). Independent variables included family communication, measured by FACES-IV Family Communication Scale (Olson, 2011) and women’s coping skills, measured by the Ways of Coping Checklist (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). Control variables were family income, women’s age, and education.

Results: Eighty-three percent of study participants reported at least one incident of psychological, physical or sexual violence during last year. The structural equation model (SEM) predicting IPV victimization showed a fair fit with significant chi-square value, χ²(126, n = 278) = 308.37, p < .001, CFI = .95, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .07. Higher frequency of IPV experiences was associated with negative family communication (β = -.4, p < .001), use of emotional coping (β = .25, p < .001), and lower education (β = -.29, p < .001). Lower income was related to higher emotion-focused coping (β = -.15, p < .01). Also, emotional and problem-focused coping had statistically significant standardized indirect effects on women’s IPV that was mediated by positive communication controlling for covariates (β = .20, 𝓏 = 5.46, p < .001 for emotional coping and β = -.09, 𝓏 = -3.49, p <.001 for problem-focused coping).

Implications: Findings draw attention to the fact that IPV is a widespread health concern in Ukraine. Future longitudinal research is warranted to test temporal precedence and probable causes and effects of these variables. Still, these cross-sectional results suggest that Ukrainian women may benefit from mastering communication and coping strategies that may help them avoid or effectively protect themselves from IPV perpetration. These results also suggest that in order to reduce domestic violence in Ukraine, national policy and programming should focus on alleviating poverty while improving access of women to education.