Gender-based or sexual violence, or violence against women (VAW), is a global public health problem affecting around 30% of women over the age of 15, with significant physical and mental health consequences, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Female victims of VAW have specific needs linked to the often repeated nature of the violence they experience, and the complex trauma that can ensue. They also tend to combine other risk factors for poor mental health, such as economic insecurity and social isolation. In France, addressing the specific medical, psychosocial and legal needs of victim-survivors of VAW faces multiple obstacles, including a lack of dedicated care structures, a shortage of trained professionals, and a lack of coordination between the various stakeholders.
“La Maison des Femmes” (MdF) in Saint-Denis was created in 2016, in a department where a quarter of women attending family planning centers (CPF) suffer or have suffered from VAW. It is a hospital service specifically dedicated to the individualized multidisciplinary care of victims-survivors of VAW, offering health, social and legal support within the same structure. The MdF comprises 4 units: a CPF, a violence management unit (staffed by doctors, midwives, psychologists, social workers, lawyers, police officers and support groups), a female genital mutilation management unit and a 24/7 reception unit for victims of sexual violence.
Several care structures inspired by MdF have been set up in France. The service provided by these structures needs to be evaluated, particularly in terms of their ability to improve the physical and mental health, including post-traumatic stress, of female victims of VAW.
The main objective of this national multicenter prospective quasi-experimental study is to compare the evolution of post-traumatic stress between the initial visit and 6 months later, in women victims of gender-based and sexual violence (GBV), depending on whether they are cared for in structures offering a coordinated multidisciplinary approach, women’s centers (maisons des femmes – MdF), or in health centers (CS, municipal health centers, sexual health or family planning centers).
Project funding : Research program on the performance of the healthcare system (PREPS)
ESSMA team members involved : Fabienne EL-KHOURY
Collaborations :
Professeur Marc Bardou, CHU Dijon Bourgogne
Dre Ghada Hatem, Maison des Femmes Saint-Denis
Dre Leila Yacini, CMS des Moulins, Saint-Denis
Pre Pascale Hofmann, Mdf de Grenoble, CHU de Grenoble,
Dre Claire Masse-Navette, centre de Santé Sexuelle de Voiron
Pr Marc Dommergues, Maison des femmes de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris
Dr Andre Soares, Centre Municipal de Santé D’Arcueil
Pre Florence Bretelle, Maison des Femmes Marseille Provence
Dr Michel Rotily, centre de santé universitaire AP-HM des Flamands, Marseille
Pr Olivier Graesslin, Maison des Femmes CHU de Reims
Our team is located on a single site, on the 3rd floor of the Pierre et Marie Curie Faculty of Medicine, Pôle Saint-Antoine
27 rue de Chaligny
Paris 12°
Tél.: +(33) 01.44.73.84.45
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