Page 43 - IJPS-10-1

International Journal of
Population Studies Men’s experience of IPV during COVID-19 lockdown

1.2. Study objectives of the nature of the study (i.e., research, commentaries,

This study was designed to achieve the following objectives: and reviews). Nevertheless, studies published within
(i). To find the prevalence of IPV against men during the search period (2020 – 2021) that used data from
COVID-19 pandemic lockdown previous years to analyze IPV against men were excluded
(ii). To identify the types and forms of IPV experienced from the interpretation of our hypothesis of this study
by male victims during the COVID-19 pandemic but were discussed in the introduction and discussion
lockdown sections. In the third stage, the selected papers with
(iii). To investigate the consequences of IPV on male available full texts were reviewed to ensure that they
victims during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. met pre-determined inclusion criteria. Finally, the two
authors independently and succinctly screened both the
2. Data and methods titles and contents of selected articles to evaluate their
suitability for the review.
Six online bibliographic databases were searched to
identify gray literature from published studies on the As shown in Figure 1, the process of database searching
prevalence, types, and consequences of IPV against in stage 1 yielded a total of 87 citations/abstracts. After a
men during the COVID-19 lockdown. The populations review of the titles and abstracts of the 87 articles, a total of
of interest were men who had been abused specifically 35 articles were rejected either because they had unrelated
by their female partners. The search was limited to the themes, did not provide enough information on the issue
2020 – 2021 period. This is because COVID-19 lockdowns under discussion, or are duplicates.
globally were mainly instituted in 2020 and early 2021. Further screening in stage 2 involved screening
The six bibliographic databases from which literature and review of the titles and abstracts of the remaining
was searched in this study include PubMed, PsycINFO, 52 articles. Subsequently, 29 articles were rejected because
Sociological Abstract, Social Sciences Citation Index, the studies they described were conducted in a period
SpringerLink, and ProQuest. The search terms adopted outside the scope of this study, thereby leaving a total of 23
include “men abuse,” “violence against men,” “IPV against articles in stage 3.
men,” “domestic violence against men,” and “gender-based
violence against men.” Reference listings from identified Furthermore, in stage 3, after the full texts of the
articles were further independently hand searched for 23 articles were reviewed, 4 studies were subsequently
articles with more specific themes. The number of articles discarded on the grounds of methodological flaws. Finally,
gleaned from the various bibliographic databases is shown in stage 4, 19 studies that met the criteria were subjected to
in Table 1. a final in-depth review.
In identifying relevant articles for this study, a four-
Stage 1: Database searching, with 87
stage screening process was adopted. At first, the authors abstract/citations retrieved from PubMed
independently conducted online searches using the (35), PsychINFO (9), Sociological
terms mentioned earlier. In the second stage, the titles Abstracts (7), Social Science Citations
Index (14), SpringerLink (14), and
and abstracts of papers were selected using certain ProQuest (8)
inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify relevant 35 articles had unrelated
themes, had insufficient
papers. In determining the inclusion criteria for articles, information, and are duplicates
studies that reported gender-based violence, domestic
violence, IPV, and abuses against men published between Stage 2: Review of 52 articles titles and
abstracts
2020 and 2021 were included in this study irrespective
29 articles were rejected
because of unrelated study
Table 1. Number of articles gleaned and selected from online period
bibliographic databases
Stage 3: Review of the full texts of
Name of database No. of articles No. of articles 23 articles
retrieved selected
4 studies discarded on
PubMed 35 6 methodological ground
PsychINFO 9 2
Sociological Abstracts 7 1 Stage 4: Final selection of 19 studies
Social Sciences Citation Index 14 1 for in-dept review
SpringerLink 14 3
ProQuest 8 6 Figure 1. Flowchart of multistage selection and screening of articles
(for Newspapers and Magazines)
retrieved from databases.

Volume 10 Issue 1 (2024) 37 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.376