O-16 Self-reported experience of sexual, physical, and verbal violence among university students in Barbados during the COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s):
MH Campbell , T Whitby-Best , NS Greaves , MK Emmanuel , PS Chami , SG Anderson
Year of Presentation:
2024
Objective: To examine violence reported by university students in Barbados on the National College Health Assessment (NCHA), a standardised measure of tertiary students’ health status, behaviours, and use of health systems.
Methods: The NCHA was distributed online to all current students at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, from October 2021 to March 2022. Standardized items asked students to indicate their experience of sexual, physical, and verbal violence in and outside of partnered relationships.
Results: 649 students responded to the survey; response rate was approximately 10 % (accounting for enrollment fluctuation). The most reported type of violence was verbal abuse by an intimate partner, by almost 15 % of respondents. The second most common was verbal threat (not from a partner), which approximately 10 % of students had experienced in the past year. Rates of more severe violence, such as forced sexual contact (1.4 %) and physical violence (2.3 %) from intimate partners, were relatively lower but of serious concern. Women were significantly more likely to experience of unwanted sexual touch outside of intimate relationships.
Conclusion: Our findings document reported sexual, physical, and verbal violence among Barbadian university students. Verbal abuse from partners and verbal threats from others were the most reported experiences, but other types of abuse, including physical and sexual violence, were also reported and are concerning. Sampling limitations and the COVID-19 context limit generalisability of findings. More research to accurately estimate prevalence and elucidate risk factors is needed to inform health and psychosocial support systems for students.