Intimate partner violence and associated factors among reproductive age women during COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Ethiopia, 2020

Abstract

Plain English summary Intimate partner violence is physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by an intimate partner or ex-partner or spouse to a woman. Community based cross-section study was employed among 462 reproductive-age women to assess the magnitude and associated factors of IPV against women during COVID-19 in Ethiopia. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was used to check the association of dependent and independent variables and statistical significance was declared at P < 0.05. A total of 448 study subjects were responded making a response rate of 96.97%. In this study two in five women undergo one type of violence in their lifetime. The occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic has its impact on violence. Age ≥ 35, rural residence, husband’s educational status of diploma and above, history of child death, COVID-19 pandemic and low social support were independent predictors of violence. This sparks light to concerned bodies like policymakers and stack holders to design appropriate policies to avert this magnitude and making zero tolerance for violence in society.

Keywords

• Intimate partner violence
• COVID-19
• Reproductive age
• Gurage
• Ethiopia