Are pregnant women also vulnerable to domestic violence? A community based enquiry for prevalence and predictors of domestic violence among pregnant women

Abstract

Aim: To generate local evidence to fill up the knowledge gap about the domestic violence faced by the antenatal females. Objectives: To screen for domestic violence in antenatal females. To explore association, if any, with socio-demographic and pregnancy related attributes among antenatal females of an urbanized village of Delhi. Materials and Methods: Socio demographic details and pregnancy related attributes and HITS (Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream) questionnaire for screening domestic violence was used on 165 pregnant females in a community based setting. Results: 23% of pregnant women were screened positive for domestic violence. Physical hurt was present among 60% of victims of domestic violence. The predictors for domestic violence among pregnant women as derived from logistic regression were – educational status of head of the family/husband, substance abuse by husband and history of previous abortions. Conclusion and Recommendations: More emphasis should be given on well being of the pregnant women who are victims of domestic violence. The policy makers and program managers should integrate social welfare schemes with the RCH program and all levels of health care functionaries should be sensitized about dealing with victims of domestic violence. Laws should be implemented effectively against perpetrators of domestic violence and more importantly females should be made aware of such laws and should be motivated to report it to the legal authorities and not to take up violence for granted.

Keywords

• Domestic violence
• HITS scale
• pregnancy