Ilan Cerna-Turoff1, Jeremy C Kane2, Karen Devries3, James Mercy4, Greta Massetti4, Mike Baiocchi5. 1. Global Health and Development - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: it2208@caa.columbia.edu. 2. Mental Health - Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States. 3. Global Health and Development - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, United Kingdom. 4. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30333, United States. 5. Medicine - Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University, 1265 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94305, United States.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence is limited and contradictory on violence against children after internal displacement from natural disasters. Understanding how internal displacement affects violence is key in structuring effective prevention and response. OBJECTIVE: We examined the effect of internal displacement from the 2010 Haitian earthquake on long-term physical, emotional, and sexual violence against children and outlined a methodological framework to improve future evidence quality. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: We analyzed violence against adolescent girls and boys within the nationally representative, Haiti Violence Against Children Survey. METHODS: We pre-processed data by matching on pre-earthquake characteristics for displaced and non-displaced children and applied 95 % confidence intervals from McNemar's exact test, with sensitivity analyses, to evaluate differences in violence outcomes between matched pairs after the earthquake. RESULTS: Internal displacement was not associated with past 12-month physical, emotional, and sexual violence two years after the earthquake for girls and boys. Most violence outcomes were robust to potential unmeasured confounding. Odds ratios for any form of violence against girls were 0.84 (95 % CI: 0.52-1.33, p = 0.500) and against boys were 1.03 (95 % CI: 0.61-1.73, p = 1.000). CONCLUSIONS: Internal displacement was not a driver of long-term violence against children in Haiti. Current global protocols in disaster settings may initiate services after the optimal window of time to protect children from violence, and the post-displacement setting may be central in determining violence outcomes. The combination of specific data structures and matching methodologies is promising to increase evidence quality after rapid-onset natural disasters, especially in low-resource settings.
BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence is limited and contradictory on violence against children after internal displacement from natural disasters. Understanding how internal displacement affects violence is key in structuring effective prevention and response. OBJECTIVE: We examined the effect of internal displacement from the 2010 Haitian earthquake on long-term physical, emotional, and sexual violence against children and outlined a methodological framework to improve future evidence quality. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: We analyzed violence against adolescent girls and boys within the nationally representative, Haiti Violence Against Children Survey. METHODS: We pre-processed data by matching on pre-earthquake characteristics for displaced and non-displaced children and applied 95 % confidence intervals from McNemar's exact test, with sensitivity analyses, to evaluate differences in violence outcomes between matched pairs after the earthquake. RESULTS: Internal displacement was not associated with past 12-month physical, emotional, and sexual violence two years after the earthquake for girls and boys. Most violence outcomes were robust to potential unmeasured confounding. Odds ratios for any form of violence against girls were 0.84 (95 % CI: 0.52-1.33, p = 0.500) and against boys were 1.03 (95 % CI: 0.61-1.73, p = 1.000). CONCLUSIONS: Internal displacement was not a driver of long-term violence against children in Haiti. Current global protocols in disaster settings may initiate services after the optimal window of time to protect children from violence, and the post-displacement setting may be central in determining violence outcomes. The combination of specific data structures and matching methodologies is promising to increase evidence quality after rapid-onset natural disasters, especially in low-resource settings.
Authors: S T Normand; M B Landrum; E Guadagnoli; J Z Ayanian; T J Ryan; P D Cleary; B J McNeil Journal: J Clin Epidemiol Date: 2001-04 Impact factor: 6.437
Authors: Jeff R Temple; Patricia van den Berg; John F Thomas; James Northcutt; Christopher Thomas; Daniel H Freeman Journal: Am J Disaster Med Date: 2011 Jul-Aug
Authors: Carl F Weems; Sarah E Watts; Monica A Marsee; Leslie K Taylor; Natalie M Costa; Melinda F Cannon; Victor G Carrion; Armando A Pina Journal: Behav Res Ther Date: 2007-05-10