Intimate partner violence and witnessing domestic violence: a comparison of Italian and international evidence

Abstract

The objective of this review is to examine the recent literature on intimate partner violence (IPV) and witnessing domestic violence (WDV) with a view to providing definitions, prevalence data for Italy and other countries, and for special populations (such as patients with severe mental illness), investigations into risk factors (alcohol, substances, child abuse) and the consequences for general and mental health. In addition to a free search with Google, Medline was interrogated, using PubMed and PsycInfo for both topics. A total of 757 publications were extracted from PubMed and 338 from PsycInfo for IPV and mental disorders, while 334 publications were found in PubMed and 205 in PsycInfo for WDV; updated epidemiological data was obtained from Italian websites (e.g. ISTAT, Office for National Statistics). We concluded that given the increasing incidence of domestic violence, health and academic institutions should frame the phenomenon in epidemiological and clinical terms, providing updated research data to the stakeholders in order to improve treatment and prevention practices.