Differences in Symptom Report by Survivors With and Without Probable Intimate Partner Violence-Related Brain Injury

Kathy S Chiou; Shireen S Rajaram; Matthew Garlinghouse; Peggy Reisher

doi:10.1177/10778012231192594

Differences in Symptom Report by Survivors With and Without Probable Intimate Partner Violence-Related Brain Injury

Violence Against Women. 2023 Nov;29(14):2812-2823. doi: 10.1177/10778012231192594. Epub 2023 Aug 9.

Authors

Kathy S Chiou¹, Shireen S Rajaram², Matthew Garlinghouse³, Peggy Reisher⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
² Department of Health Promotion, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
³ Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
⁴ Brain Injury Alliance of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA.

PMID: 37559478
DOI: 10.1177/10778012231192594

Abstract

Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) are at heightened risk of sustaining a brain injury (BI). Problematically, a high overlap between BI and trauma symptoms leads to difficulties in identifying when an IPV-related BI has occurred. This paper investigated differences in symptom reports between survivors with (n = 95) and without (n = 42) probable IPV-related BI. Chi-squared analyses isolated a constellation of symptoms found to be specifically associated with BI status. These symptomatic markers may assist professionals in discerning BI from other comorbid conditions present in IPV, and thus help survivors access BI-specific treatments and resources.

Keywords: brain injuries; intimate partner violence; screening; signs and symptoms; survivors.