Intimate partner violence experienced by pregnant women availing antenatal care at a rural hospital in South Karnataka

Authors

  • Chitra Tomy Department of Community Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala
  • Minu Rose Mani Department of Community Medicine, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Karnataka
  • Sr. Deepa Department of Community Medicine, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Karnataka
  • Sr. Ann Christy Department of Community Medicine, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Karnataka
  • Avita Rose Johnson Department of Community Medicine, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Karnataka

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20183096

Keywords:

Intimate partner violence, Antenatal women, Maternity hospital

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence is a global phenomenon with 30% of women having faced physical or sexual violence by a partner in their lifetime. Rural women with poor access to health services and counselling, often suffer in silence. Intimate partner violence during pregnancy has a negative effect on maternal and foetal outcomes. The aims of the study were to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence among pregnant women availing antenatal care services in a rural area of South India in current pregnancy and in the past 12 months, and to study the various socio-demographic factors associated with intimate partner violence.

Methods: A cross sectional study was done among antenatal women availing services at a rural maternity hospital, using a questionnaire based on NFHS-3, to document physical, emotional and sexual domains of intimate partner violence.

Results: Among 150 pregnant women aged 18-29 years, the prevalence of any form of intimate partner violence was 30.7% in the past 12 months before pregnancy (physical 10.7%, sexual 2%, and emotional 26%), and 2.7%. in current pregnancy. Lower educational status of husband and wife, history of alcohol consumption, tobacco usage and unplanned pregnancy were all significantly associated with increased intimate partner violence.

Conclusions: Routine antenatal care provides an opportunity to screen women for intimate partner violence, especially those with risk factors like lower level of education, unplanned pregnancy as well as alcohol and tobacco consumption by the husband, which were found to be significantly associated with intimate partner violence in our study.

References

WHO Media Centre. WHO Violence against women. WHO. 2016. Available at: http://www.who. int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/. Accessed on 7 September 2017.

WHO (World Health Organization). Lead poisoning and health. World Health Organization; 2015. Available at: http://www.who.int/gho/women_and_ health/violence/en/ Accessed on 11 September 2017.

García-moreno C, Jansen H, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts C. WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women. WHO World Heal Libr Catalougue. 2005;19.

National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3). International Institute for Population Sciences and Ministry of Health an Family Welfare, Government of India. 2007;1:493–524.

World Health Organization, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence. Inj Prev. 2010;16(5):1–102.

Shidhaye P, Giri P, O’Reilly R, Beale B, Gillies D, Kiely M, et al. Information sheet Intimate partner violence during pregnancy. PLoS One. 2014;9(1):183–97.

Rurangirwa AA, Mogren I, Ntaganira J, Krantz G. Intimate partner violence among pregnant women in Rwanda, its associated risk factors and relationship to ANC services attendance: a population-based study. BMJ Open. 2017;7(2):e013155.

Das S, Bapat U, Shah More N, Alcock G, Joshi W, Pantvaidya S, et al. Intimate partner violence against women during and after pregnancy: a cross-sectional study in Mumbai slums. BMC Public Health. 2013;13(1):817.

Straus MA. Measuring Intrafamily Conflict and Violence: the Conflict Tactic Scales. J Marriage Fam. 1979;41(1):75.

Ntaganira J, Muula AS, Masaisa F, Dusabeyezu F, Siziya S, Rudatsikira E. Intimate partner violence among pregnant women in Rwanda. BMC Womens Health. 2008;8(1):17.

Babu BV, Kar SK. Abuse against women in pregnancy : a population-based study from Eastern India. WHO South-East Asia J Public Heal. 2012;1(2):133–43.

Sayed Ahmed W, Ibrahim ZM, Elhameed SA, Hagras AM. Intimate partner violence among Egyptian pregnant women: Incidence, risk factors and adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. J Matern Neonatal Med. 2014;27(2):201–2.

Abdollahi F, Abhari FR, Delavar MA, Charati JY. Physical violence against pregnant women by an intimate partner, and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Mazandaran Province, Iran. J Family Community Med. 2015;22(1):13–8.

Khosla AH, Dua D, Devi L, Sud SS. Domestic violence in pregnancy in North Indian women. Indian J Med Sci. 2005;59(5):195–9.

Peedicayil A, Sadowski LS, Jeyaseelan L, Shankar V, Jain D, Suresh S, et al. Spousal physical violence against women during pregnancy. Vol. 111, BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Blackwell Science Ltd; 2004: 682–687.

Begum S, Donta B, Nair S, Prakasam CP. Socio-demographic factors associated with domestic violence in urban slums, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Indian J Med Res. 2015;141:783–8.

World Health Organization. Intimate partner violence fact sheet. Int J Trauma Nurs. 2012;6(2):66–8.

Cigarette Smoking among Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators and Victims: Findings from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. The American journal on addictions / American Academy of Psychiatrists in Alcoholism and Addictions. 2014;23(5):493-501.

Yoshikawa K, Agrawal NR, Poudel KC, Jimba M. A lifetime experience of violence and adverse reproductive outcomes: Findings from population surveys in India. Biosci Trends. 2012 Jun 1 [cited 2017;6(3):115–21.

Shabnam S, Mukherjee a. Spousal violence and unintended pregnancy in India : Evidence from NFHS- 3. Indian J Res Reports Med Sci. 2013;3(3):1–8.

Committee O. ACOG Committee opinion. Obstetrics and Gynecology. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2004. Available at: https://www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/ Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Health-Care-for-Underserved-Women/Intimate-Partner-Viol-ence. Accessed on 3 April 2018.

Downloads

Published

2018-07-23

How to Cite

Tomy, C., Mani, M. R., Deepa, S., Christy, S. A., & Johnson, A. R. (2018). Intimate partner violence experienced by pregnant women availing antenatal care at a rural hospital in South Karnataka. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 5(8), 3548–3552. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20183096

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles