Gender-based violence (GBV) is both a global public health problem and violation of human rights. Refugees and internally displaced persons experience an increased risk of GBV and health outcomes associated with GBV are often exacerbated in conflict settings.

A mixed methods study to examine the feasibility and acceptability of universal screening for GBV in a refugee population in the Dadaab refugee camp of Kenya, using the ASIST-GBV from January to July 2015.

Of 9366 women offered screening at International Rescue Committee health clinics, about 89% (n = 8369) female refugees consented to participate. Only 15% of the potentially eligible population could participate in GBV screening because of the ongoing struggle to identify private space in the clinics. Over 85% of women reported being ‘willing’ or ‘very willing’ to participate in GBV screening; 96% felt they had a good or very good experience with the screening protocol. Qualitative findings stressed the importance of securing a room/space in the busy clinic is critical to universal screening with referral to safe and confidential services for survivors.

The findings suggest that the evidence-based ASIST-GBV is both feasible to implement and acceptable to both providers and women seeking care. Universal GBV screening and referral is an effective way for health care and service providers in humanitarian settings to assist survivors of GBV.

Women living in war-affected contexts face high levels of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence (Stark & Ager, 2011). Despite well-documented negative consequences, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2006; Steel et al. 2009), evidence remains thin regarding intervention effectiveness to mitigate consequences in these settings.

This study used a two-armed parallel pilot randomized controlled trial to compare the impact of a group savings only (control) to gender dialogue groups added to group savings (treatment) on women's symptoms of PTSD in northwestern Côte d'Ivoire. Eligible Ivorian women (18+ years, no prior experience with group savings) were invited to participate and 1198 were randomized into treatment groups.

In the ITT analyses, women in the treatment arm had significantly fewer PTSD symptoms relative to the control arm (β: −0.12; 95% CI: −0.20 to −0.03; p = 0.005). Partnered women in the treatment arm who had not experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) at baseline had significantly fewer PTSD symptoms than the control arm (β = −0.12; 95% CI: −0.21 to −0.03; p = 0.008), while those who had experienced IPV did not show significant differences between treatment and control arms (β = −0.09; 95% CI: −0.29 to 0.11; p = 0.40).

Adding a couples gender discussion group to a women's savings group significantly reduced women's PTSD symptoms overall. Different patterns emerge for women who experienced IPV at baseline v. those who did not. More research is needed on interventions to improve mental health symptoms for women with and without IPV experiences in settings affected by conflict.

Task-shifting mental health into general medical care requires more than brief provider training. Generalists need long-term support to master new skills and changes to work context are required to sustain change in the face of competing priorities. We examined program and context factors promoting sustainability of a mental health task-shifting training for hospital-based HIV providers in Ethiopia.

Convergent mixed-methods quasi-experimental study. Sustained impact was measured by trained/not-trained provider differences in case detection and management 16 months following the end of formal support. Factors related to sustainability were examined through interviews with trained providers.

Extent of sustained impact: Trained providers demonstrated modest but better agreement with standardized screeners (greater sensitivity with similar specificity). They were more likely to request that patients with mental health problems return to see them v. making a referral. Factors promoting sustainability (reported in semi-structured interviews): provider belief that the treatments they had learned were effective. New interactions with on-site mental health staff were a source of ongoing learning and encouragement. Factors diminishing sustainability: providers feelings of isolation when mental health partners left for work elsewhere, failure to incorporate mental health indicators into administrative data, to re-stock staff education materials, and to build formal mechanisms for generalist-mental health staff interaction.

An intervention seen as feasible and effective, and promotion of relationships across professional lines, helped generalists sustain new skills. Failure to address key system context issues made use of the skills unsustainable as external supports ended.

The aim of this research scoping review was to assemble an evidence base for the UK on mental health service user experiences and perspectives on mental health-related targeted violence and hostility (‘disability hate crime’). It also aims to address some of the gaps in the knowledge on risk management, help-seeking and prevention from the perspectives of those who experienced targeted violence and hostility because of their mental health problems or psychiatric status.

Seven key mental health and social care bibliographic databases were searched for relevant UK research studies from 1990 until 2016. Grey literature was identified through online searches. A scoping review charting approach and thematic analysis methodology were used to analyse the studies.

In total 13 studies were finally included, over half of which used survey methods. All studies included people with experiences of mental health problems. The studies provide information on: the types of potential hate crime; indicate where incidents take place; give some insight into the victims’ relationship with the perpetrators; the location of incidents as well as the psychological, social, financial and physical impacts on the victim; the types of help-seeking behaviours adopted by the victims; a range coping strategies that people with mental health problems adopted in response to experiences of targeted violence or abuse.

This scoping review provides a UK-based overview of mental health service user concepts and experiences of mental health-related targeted violence and hostility (‘disability hate crime’). It reveals some specific issues relating to mental health and disability hate crime. Further investigation into disability hate crime with a specific focus on mental health is required. This is a UK-based overview, which offers a useful comparator for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers internationally.

Research suggests that in environments where community conflict and violence are chronic or cyclical, caregiving can impact how children may begin to reproduce violence throughout the various stages of their lives. The aim of this study is to understand how caregiving affects processes of reproducing violence and resilience among children in conflict-affected Burundi.

We combined a socio-ecological model of child development with a child-actor perspective. We operationalized the core concepts ‘vulnerable household’, ‘resilience’, and ‘caregiving’ iteratively in culturally relevant ways, and put children's experiences at the center of the inquiry. We carried out a comparative case study among 74 purposively sampled vulnerable households in six collines in three communes in three provinces in the interior of Burundi. Burundian field researchers conducted three consecutive interviews; with the head of the household, the main caregiver, and a child.

Our findings reveal a strong congruence between positive caregiving and resilience among children. Negative caregiving was related to negative social behavior among children. Other resources for resilience appeared to be limited. The overall level of household conditions and embedment in communities attested to a generalized fragile ecological environment.

In conflict-affected socio-ecological environments, caregiving can impact children's functioning and their role in reproducing violence. Interventions that support caregivers in positive caregiving are promising for breaking cyclical violence.