Intimate Partner Domestic Violence in Lockdown Context in Women in the Province of Chimborazo - A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract Intimate partner violence continues to be a public health problem, especially due to persistent increase in violence against women in all contexts and settings. The objective of this study is to explore violence against the female gender considering different sociodemographic contexts during confinement due to COVID-19. The study included 350 female residing in the province of Chimborazo, Ecuador, who lived with their partner or spouse during confinement due to the public health emergency ascribed to COVID-19. An online survey was conducted on physical and psychological intimate partner violence and sociodemographic characteristics as determinants of the prevalence of violence. The Chi2 test was used to assess whether there were differences between the groups that suffered violence before and during quarantine, and the probability of risk of suffering gender violence in different socio-demographic settings was estimated through the logistic regression test. The analyses were carried out using the R statistical software. The findings of this study show that there has been an increase in gender violence during the pandemic, especially on the female gender who live in urban areas, under the age of 30, and with medium or low educational levels. These results provide empirical evidence of the negative impact that confinement and the COVID-19 pandemic have on the presence of violence against women, and that could contribute to the development of preventive interventions to alleviate this social problem with medium and long-term proposals.

Keywords

• gender violence, covid-19, gender, chimborazo.