Author(s):
Grigaite, Ugne ; Aginskaitė, Simona ; Pedrosa, Bárbara ; Aluh, Deborah ; Santos-Dias, Margarida ; Silva, Manuela ; Cardoso, Graca ; JM, Caldas-de-Almeida
Date: 2025
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/182839
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Subject(s): Disability; Domestic violence; Intimate partner violence; Lithuania; Mental health services; Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being; SDG 5 - Gender Equality; SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Description
Funding Information: Financial support in the form of doctoral fellowships was provided to Ugn\u0117 Grigait\u0117 and B\u00E1rbara Pedrosa by the FCT \u2013 Funda\u00E7\u00E3o para a Ci\u00EAncia e a Tecnologia (UI/BD/151073/2021 and UI/BD/151072/2021). Interviews were organised with support from the Lithuanian Disability Forum, funded by the Department for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania (the financial support of 2023 for the activities of disability associations). Research participants were not remunerated in this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Elsevier Inc.
Background: Women with disabilities are two to five times more likely to experience domestic violence (DV), including intimate partner violence (IPV), when compared with women without disabilities. Survivors of DV and IPV are around three times more likely than women without this life experience to develop mental health conditions or a psychosocial disability. Objective: To explore the perspectives of women with disabilities who are survivors of DV and IPV about their help-seeking experiences and their use of mental health services in Lithuania. Methods: A qualitative explorative study was implemented within an experiential framework. Semi-structured interviews (n = 15) were conducted with women-survivors of DV who have sensory, physical, psychosocial, and intellectual disabilities. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using MAXQDA software. Results: The key findings highlight the complex intersection between gender, disability, and DV, including IPV. Women with disabilities may be extremely dependent on their abusers for daily individual support and may also experience disability-based violence as a result of this situation. Societal stigma and victim-blaming attitudes, as well as the lack of community-based services, may prevent survivors from seeking help. However, those who do may benefit greatly from support provided by mental health services. Conclusions: Further qualitative and quantitative research concerning the interlink between the areas of gender, disability, DV and IPV, and the provision of mental health services is needed, especially about what interventions might be the most effective for this particular population.
