Intimate partner violence and HIV sexual risk behaviour among women who inject drugs in Indonesia: A respondent-driven sampling study

Journal article

Women who inject drugs are disproportionately affected by HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV); however, the link between IPV and HIV remains under-researched among substance-using women in low- and middle-income countries. This study examined associations and additive effects of different forms of IPV victimization (psychological, physical and/or injurious, and sexual) on HIV sexual risk behavior among women who inject drugs in Indonesia. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used to recruit 731 women from Greater Jakarta and Bandung, West Java. RDS-II weighted prevalence of any past-year IPV was 68.9% (95% CI 65.0, 72.6) in Jakarta and 55.9% (95% CI 48.0, 63.5) in Bandung. In separate logistic regressions controlling for socio-demographic covariates, all three forms of IPV showed statistically significant associations with sexual risk behavior. After adjusting for all IPV types, psychological (OR 1.87; 95% CI 1.17, 2.99; p = 0.009) and sexual (OR 1.98; 95% CI 1.22, 3.21; p = 0.006) IPV independently predicted women’s sexual risk behavior. Marginal effects models suggested that co-occurrence of multiple forms of IPV had greater adverse consequences: sexual risk behavior was reported by 64.1% of women who did not experience any IPV, but increased to 89.9% among women exposed to all three types. Comprehensive harm reduction services that integrate IPV monitoring and prevention are urgently needed to reduce both HIV and IPV.

Authors: Stoicescu, C; Cluver, LD; Spreckelsen, T; Casale, M; Sudewo, AG

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer
• Journal: AIDS and Behavior
• Publication date: 2018-06-11
• Acceptance date: 2018-04-15
• DOI: 10.1007/s10461-018-2186-2
• EISSN: 1573-3254
• ISSN: 1090-7165
• Keywords: Intimate partner violence; Women; HIV; Sexual risk behavior; Respondent-driven sampling; Injecting drug use