Physical and sexual violence during pregnancy in the northeastern backlands of Brazil: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To identify the prevalence and characteristics related to violence during the gestational period. Methods: A cross-sectional study performed at a Maternity Hospital in the city of Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Brazil. The population was composed of 360 postpartum women who were questioned about the occurrence of physical or sexual violence during pregnancy. Cases of violence committed by an intimate partner or other aggressors were considered. The instrument used was the Portuguese version of the Abuse Assessment Screen, applied confidentially. We used the prevalence of 20% violence against women during pregnancy estimated by the World Health Organization, with absolute error of 5%, significance level of 5% and test power of 80%. The data were analyzed with the Epinfo program, version 3.5.2. Pearson's chi-square test was used, with a p-value of <0.05 and a 95% confidence interval. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, ABC Medial School, N. 391,622. Results: Sexual violence 19.2% (69) surpassed the prevalence of physical violence 7.8% (28) among pregnant women who were surveyed. The common variable that showed relevance among women who suffered physical and sexual violence was low income in 96.4% and 78.2%, respectively. Conclusions: While a variety of factors influence gestational violence, low income women had higher rates of exposure to the cycle of violence in this population.

Physical violence in pregnancy: a cross-sectional study with women in puerperium attended in a public service of reference, São Paulo, Brazil

“…Unlike most studies, we did not find a relationship between low education and higher frequency of PVP, as did Santos et al (2010) 10 , Khosla et al (2005) 34 , and Okada et al ( 2015) 16 . On the other hand, women who suffered PVP had lower income and less work, consistent with the findings of Leung et al (1999) 23 , Bessa (2014) 33 , and Rurangirwa et al (2017) 31 . However, evidence is robust regarding social inequality, poverty, financial dependency, and unemployment as factors associated with PVP.…”

“…Adolescents in particular may experience violence after disclosing the pregnancy, either by the family or by the partner. 19 Studies by Moraes and Reichenheim (2002) 26 , Moraes et al (2010) 13 , and Rurangirwa et al (2017) 31 also associated woman's younger age with violence in pregnancy, while Bessa (2014) 33 found no difference between adolescents and adults. However, by not including adolescents under 18 years of age, the comparison with other studies was impaired.…”

“…However, evidence is robust regarding social inequality, poverty, financial dependency, and unemployment as factors associated with PVP. 5,9,16,22,24,26,33 Women's lower income also gives the phenomenon significance for social stratification1 8 , while greater economic autonomy may be a protective factor for PVP 35 .…”

“…Racial issues also matter for suffering violence while pregnant and are even more unfavorable for black women and racial-ethnic minorities. 33,36,37 A study by Garcia and Silva (2014) 38 with Brazilian emergency services found that almost 70% of the cases of violence involved black women.…”

Sexual violence during pregnancy: cross-sectional study with women in puerperium

“…The majority of studies involves puerperal women assisted in public maternity hospitals and addresses physical violence during pregnancy by the intimate partner, with prevalence between 5.1% and 18.2%. For SVP, they estimate values from 2.1% to 19.1% 9,11,31 . Thus, the aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of SVP and its sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics among women seen at a reference hospital in the city of São Paulo.…”