Fewer abuse cases being reported
Hospital study shows `drastic' drop in early stages of pandemic
A new study shows emergency department admissions for sexual assault and domestic violence dropped “drastically” at The Ottawa Hospital in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of cases treated at the hospital decreased by about 50 per cent in the first two months of last year's lockdown when compared to the same period in 2018, the study found.
Published Thursday in the BMC Medicine online journal, the research has raised concern that women are suffering in silence and not seeking treatment.
“The full consequences of the COVID-19 restrictions on sexual assault and domestic violence may take months to appear,” warned the study's lead author, Dr. Katherine Muldoon, senior research associate at The Ottawa Hospital.
Study co-author Dr. Kari Sampsel, medical director of The Ottawa Hospital Sexual Assault and Partner Abuse Care Program, said previous pandemics and civil emergencies have been associated with increases in domestic violence. Those situations often magnify the kind of problems — job loss, financial insecurity, social isolation — that contribute to relationship strife.
“I don't think that domestic violence and sexual assault have gone away as entities; I just think that people can't get to us,” Sampsel said. “I think the big thing is that the opportunities people would take for escape — going to work, going to school, dropping kids off — those moments aren't there anymore.
“It's an enormous effort for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence to get help, and the pandemic makes it even harder,” Sampsel said.
As part of the BMC Medicine study, the research team compared emergency department admissions for sexual assault and domestic violence from March 4 to May 5, 2020, with the same period in 2018. Sexual assault cases dropped 56.5 per cent (46 to 20), while physical assault cases declined 48.5 per cent (33 to 17).
During the same two-month period, overall emergency department admissions fell 33 per cent as people avoided the hospital for fear of contracting COVID-19.
The vast majority of patients admitted for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse were women (89 per cent).
The study found that an intimate partner was responsible for the violence in more than half the cases; most of the attacks occurred at the home of either the perpetrator (40 per cent) or the victim (31 per cent).
Significantly more assaults occurred outdoors in 2020 (23 per cent) than in 2018 (five per cent), the study noted.
Researchers also recorded a 17-per-cent increase in the number of patients who sent evidence kits to police. “This is an interesting trend,” the authors concluded, “that may reflect patterns of more severe cases presenting for care.”
Melissa Heimerl, executive director of Ottawa Victim Services and a co-author on the study, said she had heard from clients who said the pandemic made it difficult for them to leave their homes and escape abusive situations.
“We have heard that the violence is still happening: it's just happening in silence without them being able to access support,” she said Thursday.
Last year, Ottawa Victim Services helped to launch Unsafe at Home Ottawa, a text and online chat tool to assist people living with abusers. In its first month of service, it was contacted by more than 300 people. That level of use has remained constant, Heimerl said.
“We knew it would be utilized, but we had no idea of the magnitude,” she said.
Unsafe at Home Ottawa can be reached by text at 613-704-5535 or online at unsafeathomeottawa.ca.
Sampsel encouraged people to check on friends, neighbours and loved ones who might be in difficult domestic situations. She also notes that the hospital's abusecare program continues to operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
“People do not have to suffer alone,” she said.