JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern. Electronic health (eHealth) interventions may reduce exposure to violence and health-related consequences as the technology provides a safe and flexible space for the target population. However, the evidence is unclear.

Objective:

To examine the effect of eHealth interventions compared to standard care on reducing intimate partner violence, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among women exposed to intimate partner violence.

Methods:

We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, PsycInfo, Scopus, the Global Health Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, the International Clinical Trial Registry Platform for published and unpublished trials from inception up to April 2019. Trials with an eHealth intervention targeted women exposed to violence were included. We assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Trials that reported effect estimates on overall intimate partner violence, physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, depression and/or post-traumatic stress disorder were included in meta-analyses.

Results:

A total of fourteen trials were included in the review; eight published trials, three unpublished trials and three ongoing trials. Two out of the eight published trials were judged as overall low risk of bias trials. The trials reported a total of 23 different types of outcomes and seven of the trials had outcomes that were eligible for meta-analyses. Our pooled analyses found no effect of eHealth interventions on any of our pre-specified outcomes: overall IPV (SMD: -0.01; 95% CI: -0.11 to 0.08; I2=0%; five trials, 1668 women); physical violence (SMD: 0.01; 95% CI: -0.22 to 0.24; I2=58%; four trials, 1128 women); psychological violence (SMD: 0.07; 95% CI: -0.12 to 0.25; I2=40%; four trials, 1129 women); sexual violence (MD: 0.36; 95% CI: -0.18 to 0.91; I2=0%; two trials, 1029 women); depression (SMD: -0.13; 95% CI: -0.37 to 0.11; I2=78%; five trials, 1600 women); and PTSD (MD: -0.11; 95% CI: -1.04-0.82; I2=0%; five trials, 1267 women).

Conclusions:

There is no evidence from randomised trials of a beneficial effect of eHealth interventions on IPV. More high-quality trials are needed and we recommend harmonising outcome reporting in IPV trials by establishing core outcome sets. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO: CRD42019130124.