Authors' objectives: Violence against women harms individuals, communities, and society. Supporting survivors requires a combination of skills and resources and involvement of multiple institutions. We aimed to document the range of responses that a counselling service should be able to provide, based on direct experience of working with survivors predominantly from urban informal settlements.

Authors' results and conclusions: Counsellors met with 2278 women clients in 2019, almost half of whom had been encouraged to attend through community outreach. Clients described intimate partner violence (37%), domestic violence by a family member other than their partner (22%), or both (27%). Common forms of violence reported were emotional (88%), economic (73%), and physical (71%); 68% of clients reported episodes of neglect, 59% of coercive control, and 36% of sexual violence, while 77% had survived three or more forms of violence. Over a median seven consultations, 32% required crisis intervention, 31% home visits from counsellors, and 17% legal support; 13% saw a clinical psychologist, 7% were assisted in consulting the police, and 5% required medical care.

Authors' methods: At non-government counselling centres in Mumbai, we analysed unlinked electronic records collected by counsellors supporting survivors of violence. We examined how women knew of the services, how they described their concerns, what they said they expected, and what was provided. We quantified the proportions of clients who required crisis intervention, police action, legal input, and medical, psychological and psychiatric support. The record system may have been subject to errors in data entry or systematic differences between counsellor choices, with the possibility of over- or under-identification of need and different counsellors’ propensities for and choices of referral. The spectrum of concerns relates to women residents of urban informal settlements, and we should be cautious about their application to other populations.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/ghr/NINR135652

Year Published: 2024

URL for published report: https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/ghr/published-articles/LKNH2423/

URL for additional information: English

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Full HTA

Country: England, United Kingdom

DOI: 10.3310/LKNH2423

Organisation Name: NIHR Public Health Research programme

Contact Address: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK

Contact Name: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

Contact Email: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk