Intimate partner violence help-seeking norms: scale reliability and crosssectional multilevel associations with intimate partner violence among youth in Nairobi, Kenya
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
BMJ Group
Abstract
Objectives Intimate partner violence (IPV) threatens
women’s health and safety. Support services can mitigate
the impact, yet few survivors seek services in part due
to social norms that discourage use. Little agreement
exists on how to measure norms and attitudes related
to IPV help-seeking. The objectives were to (1) refine
an IPV Help-Seeking Attitudes Scale and examine its
psychometric properties, (2) explore differences in
attitudes between young men and young women, and (3)
examine associations of past 6-month IPV among young
women with the scale at the individual level (individual
attitudes) and the by-gender community-aggregated
averages (community norms) among youth in Nairobi,
Kenya.
Design This cross-sectional, secondary analysis used
data from a phone-based survey with a cohort of young
men and young women recruited via respondent-driven
sampling from April to May 2021. Cross-sectional
exploratory factor analysis assessed underlying latent
constructs. Multilevel mixed-effects models assessed
associations with IPV experience for young women.
Setting and participants A youth cohort of 586 men and
591women aged 15–24 years in Nairobi, Kenya.
Primary outcome measure Past 6-month physical and/
or sexual IPV among young women.
Results The IPV Help-Seeking Attitudes Scale had
acceptable internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha >0.60). IPV
prevalence was 17.5%, among whom 21.7% had sought
any help for the past 6-month IPV. A one-unit increase
in the community aggregate IPV Help-Seeking Attitudes
Scale among young women was associated with reduced
odds of IPV (aOR: 0.17, 95%CI: 0.03–0.98). However, the
individual-level attitudes scale was not associated with IPV
nor was the men’s community aggregate scale.
Conclusions The IPV Help-Seeking Attitudes Scale had
adequate psychometric properties. The results suggest
that young women living in a community where the norm
among women enables IPV response may have a reduced
risk of IPV. Community norms change to better enable IPV
response among young people may help reduce IPV and
increase help-seeking.
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Citation
Williams A, Wood SN, Thiongo M, et al. Intimate partner violence help-seeking norms: scale reliability and cross-sectional multilevel associations with intimate partner violence among youth in Nairobi, Kenya. BMJ Open 2025;15:e080699. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2023-080699