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Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global human rights and public health concern. Food insecurity is a sign of severe poverty, and likely to heighten women's vulnerability to VAWG and men's perpetration of it. However, the extent of the association and the multiple pathways between food insecurity and VAWG are not well understood. We systematically assessed peer reviewed quantitative and qualitative literature to explore this in low- and middle-income countries. Fixed effects meta-analysis was used to synthesize quantitative evidence. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. From a search of 732 titles, we identified 23 quantitative and 19 qualitative or mixed-methods peer-reviewed manuscripts. In a meta-analysis of 21 cross-sectional studies with 20,378 participants, food insecurity was associated with doubled odds of reported VAWG (odds ratio [OR] = 2.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.82-3.10). This finding was consistent for both women's experience or male perpetration of VAWG. Qualitative and mixed-methods papers offered insight that underlying conditions of inequitable gender norms, economic deprivation, and social isolation frame both food insecurity and VAWG. Food insecurity may trigger survival behaviors due to household stress and lack of meeting expected gender roles, which leads to VAWG. VAWG exposure may lead to food insecurity if women are more impoverished after leaving a violent household. Potential protective factors include financial stability, the involvement of men in VAWG programming, transformation of gender norms, and supporting women to develop new networks and social ties. Strong evidence exists for a relationship between food security and VAWG. Future funding should target causal directions and preventive options through longitudinal and interventional research. Strategies to ensure households have access to sufficient food and safe relationships are urgently needed to prevent VAWG.

Violence against women (VAW) and violence against children (VAC) are public health issues of global concern. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a commonly occurring form of VAW and there is evidence to suggest that IPV and VAC frequently co-occur within the same families. This systematic literature review searched for studies published in any language between 1st January 2000 to 16th February 2021 and identified 33 studies that provided findings for co-occurring IPV and VAC in 24 low- and middle-income countries (PROSPERO: CRD42020180179). These studies were split into subgroups based on the types of co-occurring violence they present and meta-analyses were conducted to calculate pooled odds ratios (ORs) within these subgroups. Our results indicate a significant association between IPV and VAC, with all pooled ORs showing a significant positive association between the two. Almost half of the studies focused exclusively on co-occurrence between male-to-female IPV and female caregiver-to-child VAC; few authors reported on male caregiver-to-child violence. Only three studies identified risk factors for co-occurring IPV and VAC, and those that did suggested conflicting findings on the risks associated with maternal age, alcohol and drug use, and parental education level. We also found incongruity in the violence definitions and measurements used across studies. Future research should aim to develop more consistent definitions and measurements for co-occurrence and move beyond solely examining dyadic and unidirectional violence occurrence in families; this will allow us to better understand the interrelationships between these different forms of abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To translate the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2 (SCAT2) based on the French spoken in Quebec and to confirm its acceptability for Quebec's francophone population., Methodology: The original SCAT2 was translated using a modified approach of the tool translation and adaptation method as proposed by the World Health Organization. A parallel translation was done first. A review of that translation by a committee then led to a preliminary SCAT2-Qc version. A parallel back-translation was then done and compared to the original version. The preliminary version was subsequently modified. The final version was then obtained through comments and suggestions during testing of the tool on two healthy subjects and from the comparison of the SCAT2-Qc with the existing French version by three reviewers from the health field. The final version of the SCAT2-Qc was eventually tested on 12 healthy subjects to ensure its acceptability., Results: The 12 healthy subjects did not experience any comprehension difficulties when using the SCAT2-Qc., Conclusion: The translation steps undertaken made it possible to create the SCAT2-Qc that can now be validly used in the Quebec sport and scientific community.