Dalhousie researcher studying how pandemic impacted violence against women services

How did the pandemic impact violence against women services, what did women experience while accessing them, and how can providers, policymakers, and funders best respond in future?

Alexa Yakubovich看着那些问题是三个Dalhousie大学研究人员之一最近收到了加拿大卫生研究院（CIHR）的资金专注于大流行对弱势群体的影响。

“The pandemic has increased how many women are experiencing violence, but also the severity of the violence that women are experiencing,” Yakubovich said in an interview.

她指出，公众卫生限制使妇女难以访问服务，特别是当他们在带有暴力伙伴或暴力家庭成员的家中隔离时。

“That obviously impacts the support that women can get, but it also can impact how long they’re in these situations for, and how violent and extreme it can get,” she said.

Yakubovich received $500,000 in CIHR funding for her study, ‘Identifying and contextualizing best practices in responding to violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic.’ It builds upon a community-based project she worked on at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in Toronto at the beginning of the pandemic.

“It was such a powerful and impactful project that when I moved to Dalhousie in the fall, there was a real interest in expanding,” she said.

‘Really severe cases of violence’

That Toronto-based research project is ongoing, and an overview of results is expected to be publicly available by the end of May. Yakubovich said this latest study will build on that study, broadening its focus to include the entire province of Ontario as well as both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

“服务提供商（在多伦多）告诉我们，他们如何在使用武器，非常严重的身体或性暴力，非常极端强制控制的情况下，他们如何看到更多的客户，非常严重的顽强控制，也是更糟糕的结果雅库霍维奇说，无法进入住房，以获得适当的医疗保健而挣扎。

“这是我们能够在那项研究中揭开的那种东西，我们真的想更多地进入更多，看看这一普遍存在这一普遍存在。”

Yakubovich said the interprovincial nature of the study will also allow them to consider how provincial and municipal policies impact the experiences of survivors and the services that support them.

In addition, public health rules created many challenges. Examining experiences across all three provinces will help researchers better understand how to improve the relationship between public health and violence against women services.

“I’m really, really interested in the public health piece because the public health strategies towards COVID-19 were quite different between the Maritimes and Ontario,” she said.

城乡经验之间的差异也是一个兴趣点。

虽然在农村地区提供服务挑战和差距，但Yakubovich表示，农村地区可能更好地提供远程服务交付。她认为，在他们的策略方面，尤其是与多伦多等城市相比，许多组织首次实施远程服务的城市时，尤其是有很多东西。

“我认为学习会有很多东西，这个项目的这种替代方面是深入比较的机会，”她说。

‘One of the most prevalent health issues for women’

Besides researchers from Dalhousie University, the University of New Brunswick, University of Toronto, and St. Michael’s and Women’s College hospitals in Toronto, project collaborators include advocates, service providers, and leaders from community organizations.

Researchers will also speak with women from all three provinces who are experiencing violence and accessing services during the pandemic.

该研究具有超出大流行和未来公共卫生紧急情况的影响。三分之一的女性在亲密的合作伙伴中经历暴力，而Yakubovich表示，这是国际妇女受伤和国际病的最大决定因素。

“When we think about this being one of the biggest public health issues for women and the fact that the pandemic has impacted both the experience of violence and the ability of women to access supports available to them, it becomes clear that it’s really just as important when we’re thinking about how to improve population health to be thinking about violence against women services as we’re thinking about COVID-19,” she said.

“我们真的需要知道这些服务是长期资金不足的。他们陷入了大流行病。我们如何实际改进它们，以减少女性最普遍的健康问题之一？“

Yakubovich hopes to publish some preliminary results from this latest study in the summer, and encourages any women who fit the criteria and who want to participate to reach out to her viaTwitteror电子邮件。

“由于我们从多伦多做了数据收集，我们对大流行的社会视角已经转变。我认为我们很多人已经停止看着它，因为这一短期昙花一现，我们意识到它真的永远改变了我们的生活，“Yakubovich说。

“This study does want to look at how we can better prepare for future public health emergencies, but we’re also looking at this as ‘The service landscape has forever been changed by the pandemic.’ So, it’s not only about what we do in an emergency, but what has changed and how can we change with it in the best way possible.”

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