Children living in the same household as a violent man show lower results on cognitive tests.
- Even if they are not directly targeted by the violence, very young children confronted with domestic violence more often show a delay in their cognitive development.
- This is all the more the case when the author of the violence is their father.
- Hence the need to train medical personnel following pregnant women and their babies to recognize the warning signs of this violence.
Even when they are not themselves victims of abuse within their family, children exposed to domestic violence present a greater risk of cognitive delay. This violence will reverberate on their whole personality, on their psychic organization and their development.
This is the conclusion reached by former nurse Linda Bullock. In a study published in the journal Maternal Child Health Journalwho is now professor emeritus at the Sinclair School of Nursing at the University of Missouri (United States) is interested in the consequences of domestic violence on the psychological and cognitive development of children.
A study of domestic violence
The starting point of her work dates back to the 1980s, when she noticed bruises on the body of a pregnant woman suffering from preterm labor that she was evaluating. When asked about the origin of her injuries, the woman replied that the refrigerator had fallen on her while she was cleaning.
“Something didn’t seem right, but I didn’t know what to say at the time. I just moved on to the next assessment question, recalls Linda Bullock. We stopped work and sent her home, but I bet my bottom dollar I sent her back to an abusive relationship, and it sparked my interest in helping other nurses help battered women. What we didn’t know at the time was the impact of the abuse on the baby.”
The impact of a violent father figure
Linda Bullock, initiator of the DOVE Domestic Violence Enhanced Perinatal Home Visits program, which helps women who are victims of domestic violence in rural Missouri, has noticed that many abused women have had up to nine different romantic partners during and after their pregnancies. . She therefore wished to examine the impact of the multiplicity of paternal figures on the cognitive development of newborns.
To find out, she performed neurodevelopmental tests during home visits three, six and twelve months after birth. She then found that infants of women who had had only one male partner who abused them had worse cognitive outcomes than women who had multiple male partners, only some of whom were violent.
Other work has already shown in the past that children growing up in violent homes often have poorer school results due to neurological developmental delays and are more exposed to various health problems, including gastrointestinal disorders. intestinal problems, difficulty eating and sleeping, and stress.
“When nurses come into the home to monitor pregnant women and their developing babies, we want them to be trained to recognize the warning signs of possible intimate partner violence, emphasizes Professor Bullock. I still think back to 1983, when I sent this lady home in a terrible situation, and I’m passionate about making sure I can help today’s nurses not make the same mistake me.”
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