Perceptions of women towards screening for intimate partner violence

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an under-diagnosed public health problem affecting women with attendant negative bio-psycho-social ramifications, and unfortunately there is no universally agreed recommendation for routine hospital IPV screening currently.Aim: This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of IPV among women and their perceptions towards screening.Setting: The study was carried out in a hospital in Southwest, Nigeria.Methods: The study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study of 347 consenting women. Respondents were recruited using systematic random sampling. Data were collected using questionnaire adapted from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Multi-Country Study Questionnaire on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against women. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used and a p-value 5% was considered significant.Results: The prevalence of IPV among the sample was 71.2%. The most common IPV pattern was controlling behaviour (49.6%) while sexual violence (19.6%) was the least. The majority (85.0%) of the respondents agreed that routine IPV screening should be done for women while 96.5% believed that it would enable doctors to help identify victims. The belief that it will help physicians in making a correct diagnosis, shared by 10.7% of the respondents, was statistically significant (odd ratio [OR] = 2.592, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.180–5.694, p-value = 0.018). A total of 37 respondents (10.7%) were about three times more likely to have experienced IPV than others.Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of IPV and the women are open to routine hospital IPV screening, with the belief that it will help physicians to make an accurate diagnosis of IPV.Contribution: This research was done by majority of family health specialists, in Nigeria, an African country. The focus of the research was distinctly with an African perspective, in the field of family medicine which has a public health implication and effect on the community.

Barriers to routine screening for intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Nigeria

“…Intimate partner violence (IPV) is physical violence, sexual violence, stalking and psychological aggression or other coercive tactics by a current or former intimate partner to their spouse or partner [ 1 ]. IPV can occur irrespective of religion, ethnicity, race, socio economic background and educational qualification of pregnant women [ 2 ]. IPV has negative impacts on pregnant women and unborn babies, when there is delay in identifying and initiating prompt management.…”

Intimate Partner Violence in Nigeria: A Review of the Literature

“…Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a pervasive human rights violation of great public health importance worldwide [1,2]. It refers to gender-related harm that can occur between two people who are/were in an intimate relationship [3,4]. It has been defined by the World Health Organization as the behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, and sexual harm to those in the relationship including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviour [5].…”

“…IPV is a major public health concern and a human rights violation that occurs globally [6,7] and is of increasing concern in Nigeria [1]. Greater attention is being paid to intimate partner violence in recent times due to its effect on the survivor/victim and society at large [3]. In Nigeria, it was not a topic of discussion in the past due to the traditions and culture surrounding relationships between a man and a woman [3].…”

“…Greater attention is being paid to intimate partner violence in recent times due to its effect on the survivor/victim and society at large [3]. In Nigeria, it was not a topic of discussion in the past due to the traditions and culture surrounding relationships between a man and a woman [3]. Intimate partners are referenced to include spouses; current or past, marital, or non-marital, boyfriends/girlfriends; current or past, whether they are living together or not [4].…”