The relationship of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) to sexual-risk behavior among refugee women in Botswana: The mediating role of depression

THE RELATIONSHIP OF SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (SGBV) TO SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIORS AMONG REFUGEE WOMEN IN BOTSWANA: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF DEPRESSIONJohannes John-Langba, Ph.D., M.P.H.University of Pittsburgh, 2004This study investigated the relationships of SGBV, learned helplessness, depression, and sexual-risk behaviors among refugee women in Botswana. It was guided by the reformulated theory of learned helplessness. A cross-sectional research design that was primarily quantitative was utilized to examine the relationship between SGBV and sexual-risk behavior in refugee situations and how depression and learned helplessness affect this relationship. A total of 402 female refugees who were at least 21 years old residing at the Dukwi refugee camp participated in this investigation.This study found that about 75% of participants had experienced some form of SGBV either in their home country, during flight/transit, or in the host country. More than half (56.4%) had experienced SGBV in their home countries, 39.3% reported experiencing SGBV during flight/transit, and about 37% of the participants reported having experienced SGBV while in Botswana.Simultaneous multiple regression analysis showed that overall past SGBV predicts current sexual-risk behavior among refugee women (F = 2.018; p < .011). However, when the standardized regression coefficients of the individual independent variables were examined, only past sexual violence was found to contribute significantly to the prediction of sexual-risk behavior (Beta = .461; p< .024).accounting for 15% of the variance with sexual-risk behavior. Although, the hypothesized mediating roles of learned helplessness and depression on the relationship between past SGBV and current sexual-risk behavior were not supported in this study, more than half of the participants (55%) experienced learned helplessness and about 90% were depressed. The findings of this study provide social work and public health practitioners who are faced with the multi-faceted task of program design and implementation in refugee situations with some vital indicators of the psycho-social and reproductive health needs of refugee women in a camp setting. It also underscores the need to adapt prevention and response measures to suit the different circumstances of the various phases of forced migration