Publications by authors named "Poonam Rishal"

Article Synopsis
  • The study validated a culturally adapted Nepalese version of the Abuse Assessment Screen (N-AAS) for detecting domestic violence among pregnant women in Nepal, informed by expert reviews and feedback from women who participated in cognitive interviews.
  • Pre-testing occurred using electronic surveys in tertiary care hospitals, leading to strong content validity and high reliability with a test-retest analysis showing 91.2-98.9% consistency.
  • The N-AAS demonstrated excellent specificity for identifying non-abuse cases and good sensitivity for detecting recent physical abuse, while highlighting challenges in reporting due to cultural normalization of abuse.
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Domestic violence (DV) is a global prevalent health problem leading to adverse health consequences, yet health systems are often unprepared to address it. This article presents a comparative synthesis of the health system's pre-conditions necessary to enable integration of DV in health services in Brazil, Nepal, Sri Lanka and occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT). A cross-country, comparative analysis was conducted using a health systems readiness framework.

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The World Health Organization's End TB (tuberculosis) Strategy advocates social and economic support for TB-affected households but evidence from low-income settings is scarce. We will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a locally-appropriate socioeconomic support intervention for TB-affected households in Nepal. We will conduct a pilot randomised-controlled trial with mixed-methods process evaluation in four TB-endemic, impoverished districts of Nepal: Pyuthan, Chitwan, Mahottari, and Morang.

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Collecting data to understand violence against women and children during and after the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to inform violence prevention and response efforts. Although researchers across fields have pivoted to remote rather than in-person data collection, remote research on violence against women, children and young people poses particular challenges. As a group of violence researchers, we reflect on our experiences across eight studies in six countries that we redesigned to include remote data collection methods.

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Objectives: To synthesise evidence on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and barriers to responding to violence against women (VAW) in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).

Design: Mixed-methods systematic review.

Data Sources: Medline, Embase, Psycinfo, Cochrane, Cinahl, IMEMR, Web of Science, Popline, Lilacs, WHO RHL, ClinicalTrials.

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As part of a multisectoral response to gender-based violence (GBV), Nepal is testing the feasibility of having female community health volunteers (FCHVs) play a formal role in identifying GBV survivors and referring them to specialised services at health facilities. This study followed 116 FHCVs in Mangalsen municipality who attended a one-day orientation on GBV. Over the following year, data were collected from knowledge and attitude assessments of FCHVs, focus group discussions with FCHVs, and members of Mothers' Groups for Health.

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Domestic violence (DV) during pregnancy is associated with poor health outcomes for both the mother and newborn, and sometimes death. In a low-income country like Nepal, women have few options to leave abusive situations. Therefore, there is a need for interventions to improve their safety.

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Background: Domestic violence is one of the most common forms of violence against women. Domestic violence during pregnancy is associated with adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes. We aimed to assess whether domestic violence was associated with mode of delivery, low birthweight and preterm birth in two sites in Nepal.

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Background: Child marriage is associated with adverse reproductive health outcomes, and the practice is still alarmingly common. Together with efforts to end child marriage, it is essential to provide adequate health care to already married adolescents. However, to date there has been very limited research on health care-seeking practices among married adolescents in Nepal.

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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate if domestic violence affected women's ability to prepare for childbirth. Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) includes saving money, arranging transportation, identifying a skilled birth attendant, a health facility, and a blood donor before childbirth. During data collection, Nepal experienced two earthquakes and therefore it was possible to examine associations between domestic violence, women's BP/CR and effects of the earthquakes.

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Aims: The primary aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) and its associated factors among pregnant women in Nepal. The secondary aims were to investigate disclosure of DV by women to health-care personnel and to assess whether health-care personnel had asked women about their experience of DV.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 2004 pregnant women between 12 and 28 weeks of gestation attending routine antenatal care at two hospitals in Nepal from August 2014 to November 2015.

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Background: Domestic violence during pregnancy has detrimental effects on the health of the mother and the newborn. Antenatal care provides a 'window of opportunity' to identify and assist victims of domestic violence during pregnancy. Little is known about the experience, needs, and expectations from the women's perspective in relation to domestic violence in Nepal.

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