Brain Injury and Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

The aim of this topical issue on Brain Injury (BI) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is to address a long neglected gap in research, education and practice in both the IPV and BI literature. The need for practitioners, decision-policy makers and affected women to be aware of the co-occurrence of IPV and BI has only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. BI in this issue includes traumatic brain injury and also potential hypoxic ischemic brain injuries from strangulation assaults. This novel issue includes a broad range of contributions led by authors from the US, Canada and Australia using a variety of methodologies. Topics covered improve our understanding characteristics and outcomes of non-fatal strangulation and neurobehavioral symptoms in both survivors and perpetrators. New data on neuroimaging correlates of IPV related BI is presented as well as prevalence of IPV and BI in diverse contexts. This collection also addresses the impact of IPV in both service users and providers during the COVID-19 pandemic and reports on an emergency summit from a diverse set of stakeholders from a national IPV-TBI knowledge the practice network. Further, this issue highlights the impact of a promising health advocacy intervention that offers tools that can be downloaded and provides information about a newly formed Partner Inflicted Task Force. We are optimistic that the papers in this issue will further the field and prepare the way for additional research that will expand knowledge of IPV-related BI to other understudied groups yet to be examined.