THE PREVALENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN WHO WERE ATTENDED IN IRAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES’ HOSPITALS

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of domestic violence (DV), men’s violence against women during pregnancy is very high, and is associated with significant psychological and physical impairment of mother and the fetus. Objective: The major objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of DV among expectant mothers who had attended in Iran University of Medical Sciences’ (IUMS) hospitals. Design: This is a cross sectional study, in which the subjects were interviewed by using a standard questionnaire. Sample: 1800 subjects were selected, by using consecutive sampling in 6 major hospitals of IUMS. Results: The prevalence of DV was found to be 60.6%, including 3 types of physical, psychological and sexual, with the prevalence of 14.6%, 60.5% and 23.5% respectively. Severe physical DV was 43.3. Severe psychological and sexual DV were also found (24.2 and 3.5%). Conclusion: DV had a high prevalence in this study. It is recommended that all accessible pregnant women be screened for DV. Study of the prevalence of DV within the community with a larger sample size, and using cluster sampling method would be of immense value.

Keywords

• domestic violence
• pregnancy
• prevalence