Understanding the role of social support in alleviating the mental health burden of intimate partner violence: An analysis of cross-sectional survey data from rural Samoa

Background Much attention has been paid to the higher risk of adverse mental health among women who have experienced intimate partner violence. In low- and middle-income countries, where formal mental health responses to violence are often inaccessible or unavailable, informal social networks have been shown to play an important role in supporting survivors. However, there is limited evidence of the mental health needs of women experiencing IPV in the Pacific islands and the mitigating role that may be played by their social networks. Methods We analysed data from 707 women collected as part of a cross-sectional study of IPV experience and risk and protective factors in rural Samoan villages. Data were analysed using multivariable linear regression models to assess associations between IPV experience and depression and anxiety, and whether a woman’s perceived social support influences this relationship. Results Women who experienced IPV in the past year had a 1.62-point increase in symptoms of anxiety in the past two weeks in comparison to those who had never experienced IPV (CI=1.00, 2.24, p =<0.001). An experience of IPV in a woman’s lifetime was also associated with a 0.81-point increase in anxiety symptoms (CI=0.48, 1.45, p =0.001). However associations between an experience of IPV and depression were not significant after adjustment for age, disability, food insecurity, and child abuse. There was no evidence to suggest that social support moderated the relationship between IPV experience and poor mental health, pointing to the need for deeper understandings of social support as a protective factor for the mental health of survivors in a Samoan context. Discussion Given the long-term consequences of prolonged anxiety on women’s physical and emotional wellbeing, a substantive effort to address the effects of IPV on women’s mental health in Samoa is urgently needed. However, more culturally-relevant evidence is needed to understand the role that informal social support plays in moderating this relationship.