An epidemiological Study of Domestic Violence Against Women and its Association with Sexually Transmitted Infections in Bangalore Rural

• Main Authors: Vaishali Gaikwad, Suwarna Madhukumar, Sudeepa D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Light House Polyclinic Mangalore 2011-11-01
• Series: Online Journal of Health & Allied Sciences
• Subjects: Abuse; Domestic violence; Sexually transmitted infections; Victimization
• Online Access: http://www.ojhas.org/issue39/2011-3-3.htm

Background: Gender-based violence is universal, differing only in scope from one society to the other. The most common form of violence against women is domestic violence or violence within families. Objectives: 1. To study the prevalence and different forms of domestic violence perpetrated by intimate partner against married women. 2. To study socio economic and demographic factors which affect the victimization of woman for domestic violence. 3.To study prevalence of sexually transmitted infection and its association with domestic violence in the study group. Methods: Based on a pilot study results, a sample size of 257 was determined. Total 257 currently married women in the reproductive age group (15-49 yrs) were interviewed by systematic random sampling with prior consent using a well designed, pre- tested questionnaire . All the women were screened for sexually transmitted infections as per the WHO guidelines by syndromic approach. The data was analyzed by percentages and chi-square test. Results: Prevalence of domestic violence was found to be 29.57% in the study group. Verbal abuse was reported by 81.58% of the women, Physical abuse by 31.58% of the women ,Psychological abuse by 27.63% of the women and Sexual abuse by 10.53% of the women. Among the 76 victimized women none of them reported to the police. Interpretation and conclusions: The vulnerability to domestic violence was found significantly associated with age at marriage, duration of marriage and addiction of husband to alcohol. The association between domestic violence and sexually transmitted infections was also found significant.