A battered woman needs more than biological help

Violence against women can take many forms and is widespread, but incidences are difficult to quantify because women suffer in silence or fail to realize that the violence they experience is unacceptable. In India, a survey of 1842 rural women of reproductive age revealed that both men and women consider wife beating acceptable and that 40% of all wives have been beaten by their husbands. Indian women who have a good education, are married at later ages, and have control over economic resources are less likely to experience domestic violence. Females can suffer from violence throughout their life cycle. Fetuses may be aborted just because they are female; infants may be killed because they are female; girls may be neglected or subject to various other types of abuse; adolescents may be raped; married women may be beaten, raped, or killed by their husbands; and widows may be neglected and abused. The health effects of this violence, thus, range from death to psychological trauma. In response to this situation, women's organizations have focused worldwide attention on violence against women as a human rights violation and are beginning to hold accountable governments that were party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Training medical personnel on how to deal with women who are obvious victims of domestic violence will be an important strategy.     

上海市流动人口已婚妇女对家庭暴力的态度及其影响因素

目的：了解上海市流动人口已婚妇女对家庭暴力的态度以及相关影响因素,为制定干预措施提供依据。方法：本研究为横断面调查,采用同性别调查员匿名面对面访谈形式进行问卷调查,共收回有效问卷958份。用SAS9.1软件对数据进行统计分析。结果：80.8%调查对象同意“任何情况下,丈夫都不应该打妻子”,15.7%妇女认为“丈夫发现妻子对他不忠时,可以打妻子”,11.1%妇女同意“妻子不孝敬公公婆婆时,可以打妻子”;17.1%的妇女不同意“妻子自己不想要时,可以拒绝与丈夫过性生活”。多因素分析结果显示,年龄越大,由父母亲戚介绍/相亲方式结婚的研究对象更容忍家庭暴力,而文化程度越高的对象越反对家庭暴力。结论：上海市流动人口已婚妇女对家庭暴力态度较积极,但仍有部分流动人口已婚妇女对家庭暴力仍存在错误认识,需要加强对其进行性别平等意识、家庭暴力意识及反家庭暴力意识的宣传教育,提高她们预防和制止家庭暴力的能力。     

外来已婚育龄妇女对身体暴力的应对情况分析

目的:了解外来已婚育龄妇女对身体暴力的应对情况和需求。方法:2010年4~5月在上海市某中心城区采用以社区为基础的多阶段整群抽样方法对符合条件的流动人口已婚育龄妇女961人进行问卷调查,对遭受丈夫身体暴力的103名妇女进行分析。结果:遭受过轻度身体暴力和重度身体暴力的比例分别为66.6%和33.4%。41.9%的受暴对象在遭受身体暴力时没有对丈夫进行过任何反击,59.1%的受暴对象没有将自己遭受暴力的情况告诉过任何人,受暴妇女主动告知及希望获得帮助的对象主要是家人/亲戚/朋友,仅少数对象主动报警和(或)诉诸妇联/居委会等相关机构希望获得帮助。认为"家丑不可外扬"是她们不向外界寻求帮助的最主要原因。结论:遭受丈夫身体暴力的妇女进行反击和向外界寻求帮助的比例较低,应加强对外来已婚育龄妇女反对和制止家庭暴力的宣传,改变她们对家庭暴力的认识,提高她们的维权意识及自我保护能力。     

Violence against women

In India, violence against women is increasing and takes many forms while laws to protect women are ignored. Despite this fact, the new reproductive and child health program ignores sexual violence. Health personnel can respond by: 1) accepting the magnitude of the problem; 2) investigating the deaths of young women; 3) documenting findings; 4) ensuring that sexual abuse is recognized as a public health problem; 5) disseminating findings; 6) ensuring the protection of female field workers; 7) recognizing violence as an occupational health hazard; 8) facilitating the empowerment of women; 9) training women in self-defense; 10) ensuring that colleges and training institutes address violence as a women's health concern; 11) studying the psychological effects of violence; 12) collaborating with the National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission; and 13) advocating for incorporation of sexual violence as a reproductive health issue in the national reproductive health program. In particular, domestic violence is a pervasive violation of women's human rights and has been resistant to social advances because of its "hidden" nature. Domestic violence exists because husbands believe they have an absolute right over the sexuality of their wives. Abusive husbands also abuse their daughters while sons learn violent behavior from their fathers. Crimes must be considered irrespective of whether they are committed outside or inside the home.     

Do changes in spousal employment status lead to domestic violence? Insights from a prospective study in Bangalore,India

The prevalence of physical domestic violence – violence against women perpetrated by husbands – is staggeringly high across the Indian subcontinent. Although gender-based power dynamics are thought to underlie women's vulnerability, relatively little is known about risk and protective factors. This prospective study in southern India examined the association between key economic aspects of gender-based power, namely spousal employment status, and physical domestic violence. In 2005–2006, 744 married women, aged 16–25, residing in low-income communities in Bangalore, India were enrolled in the study. Data were collected at enrollment, 12 and 24 months. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the prospective association between women's employment status, their perceptions of their husband's employment stability, and domestic violence. Women who were unemployed at one visit and began employment by the next visit had an 80% higher odds of violence, as compared to women who maintained their unemployed status. Similarly, women whose husbands had stable employment at one visit and newly had difficulty with employment had 1.7 times the odds of violence, as compared to women whose husbands maintained their stable employment. To our knowledge, this study is the first from a developing country to confirm that changes in spousal employment status are associated with subsequent changes in violence risk. It points to the complex challenges of violence prevention, including the need for interventions among men and gender-transformative approaches to promote gender-equitable attitudes, practices and norms among men and women.     

Physical Violence and Some Reproductive Health Variables among Currently Married Egyptian Women

This study investigates the relationship between women exposure to marital physical violence and some reproductive health variables including the number of ANC visits during the last pregnancy, intended pregnancy, reporting of STDs symptoms and visiting governmental health facility in the past 6 months prior to the survey. The study was conducted on the EDHS, 2005 data. A sub-sample of 5249 currently- married women were investigated for both ever and the 12 months prior to survey exposure to physical violence by their current husbands, and its association with the aforementioned variables adjusting for the effect of respondents' age, education, work, residence, wealth index, number of children ever borne, and empowerment in household decisions. Around 29.4% of the studied women have been ever exposed to physical violence by their current husbands; of them 60% have been subjected to it in the 12 months prior to the survey. Logistic regression models showed that exposure to physical violence predicted lower number of ANC visits, unintended pregnancy, reporting of STDs symptoms, and utilization of governmental health facility in the past 6 months prior to the survey. The relationship between exposure to physical violence and poor reproductive health outcomes was strong to hold, adjusting for other covariates. The increased likelihood of visiting governmental health facilities by physically abused wives supports the recommendation to use public health services as entry point for management of violence against women (VAW), and to develop a comprehensive health sector response to various impacts of VAW.     

Domestic violence and contraceptive adoption in Uttar Pradesh, India

This study examines the association between domestic violence and the subsequent adoption of modern contraception in North India. Matched data on married couples who were not practicing contraception are analyzed from companion surveys of married husbands and wives in five districts of Uttar Pradesh. By means of hazard modeling, a significant negative association was found between a husband's reporting of using physical domestic violence against his wife and the couple's adoption of a modern method of contraception. Community norms that were more tolerant of domestic violence were, in contrast, not a significant predictor of subsequent method adoption. The results highlight the need to address the issue of support for women experiencing domestic violence within existing family planning services and to sensitize service providers to the specific needs of women experiencing such violence.     

农村地区受暴妇女对家庭暴力的处理情况研究

目的:了解我国农村地区已婚妇女遭受家庭暴力的情况及其对家庭暴力的处理情况。方法:2004年11月~2005年1月期间,在吉林、安徽和重庆的人口基金项目县,采用多阶段容量比例抽样方法选择了25个乡镇,对3 998名18岁及以上的已婚育龄妇女进行问卷调查。结果:我国家庭暴力发生非常普遍,约65%的调查妇女有过暴力经历,但受暴妇女对家庭暴力的处理多采用被动方式,即便获取他人帮助时,大多也是身边的人,对妇联、公、检、法司及医疗机构等政府部门在反家暴中的作用了解较少。医疗系统在反家暴中存在很多问题,缺乏对家庭暴力的敏感性和应对能力。结论:在我国家庭暴力非常普遍,受暴妇女对家庭暴力的处理方面存在一定的缺陷,需要加大宣传教育力度,增强受暴妇女及相关部门特别是医疗机构正确处理和应对家庭暴力的能力。     

Domestic Violence against Nurses by their Marital Partners: A Facility-based Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background:

In recent times, domestic violence against women by marital partners has emerged as an important public health problem.

Objectives:

1. To determine the prevalence, characteristics and impact of domestic violence against nurses by their marital partners, in Delhi, India. 2. To identify nurses’ perceptions regarding acceptable behavior for men and women.

Materials and Methods:

A facility-based pilot study was conducted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Data were collected using self-administered standardized questionnaire, among 60 ever married female nurses working at AIIMS hospital, selected by convenience sampling. The principal outcome variables were controlling behavior, emotional, physical and sexual violence by marital partners. Data were analyzed using SPSS 12 software. The test applied was Fisher''s exact test and 1-sided Fisher''s exact test.

Results:

Sixty percent of nurses reported marital partner perpetrated controlling behavior, 65% reported emotional violence, 43.3% reported physical violence and 30% reported sexual violence. About 3/5^th of nurses (58%) opined that no reason justified violence, except wife infidelity (31.67%). Of the physically or sexually abused respondents, 40% were ever injured, and 56.7% reported that violence affected their physical and mental health.

Conclusion:

There is a high magnitude of domestic violence against nurses and this is reported to have affected their physical and mental health.     

Nature of domestic violence against women in a rural area of Bangladesh: implication for preventive interventions

This paper reports finding from a study carried out in a remote rural area of Bangladesh during December 2000. Nineteen key informants were interviewed for collecting data on domestic violence against women. Each key informant provided information about 10 closest neighbouring ever-married women covering a total of 190 women. The questionnaire included information about frequency of physical violence, verbal abuse, and other relevant information, including background characteristics of the women and their husbands. 50.5% of the women were reported to be battered by their husbands and 2.1% by other family members. Beating by the husband was negatively related with age of husband: the odds of beating among women with husbands aged less than 30 years were six times of those with husbands aged 50 years or more. Members of micro-credit societies also had higher odds of being beaten than non-members. The paper discusses the possibility of community-centred interventions by raising awareness about the violation of human rights issues and other legal and psychological consequences to prevent domestic violence against women.     

中国农村地区已婚妇女家庭暴力发生情况及其相关知识调查

目的 了解中国农村地区已婚妇女家庭暴力发生情况及相关知识。方法 2004年11月至2005年1月，在吉林、安徽省和重庆市的人口基金项目县，采用多阶段容量比例抽样方法随机抽取25个乡镇，对3998名18岁及以上的已婚妇女进行问卷调查。结果 调查地区家庭暴力发生非常普遍，一生中总暴力、心理暴力、躯体暴力和性暴力的发生比例分别为64．8％、58．1％、29．7％和16．7％；调查前12个月中总暴力、心理暴力、躯体暴力和性暴力的发生比例分别为42．6％、37．2％、14．0％和7．7％。不同种类家庭暴力常常同时存在，将近1／3的妇女同时遭受2种或3种家庭暴力的伤害。调查妇女对家庭暴力的认识较差，75．2％的调查妇女对家庭暴力不了解，很多遭受过家庭暴力伤害的妇女对家庭暴力也一无所知，尤其是对心理暴力的知晓情况更差。结论 中国农村地区家庭暴力发生非常普遍，尤其是心理暴力，但已婚妇女对家庭暴力的了解还比较欠缺，需要引起有关部门的重视。     

A Cross-sectional Study to Find out the Prevalence of Different Types of Domestic Violence in Gwalior City and to Identify the Various Risk and Protective Factors for Domestic Violence

Background:

Violence against women is a universal phenomenon that persists in all communities and in all countries of the world and the perpetrator of that violence is often well-known to the victim. Domestic violence in particular continues to be frighteningly common and well-accepted as “normal” within too many societies.

Objectives:

(1) The primary aim of this study is to find out the extent of different type of domestic violence and to identify various risk factors for domestic violence against married women. (2) The secondary aim is to identify the various protective factors of domestic violence against married women.

Materials and Methods:

The present study was a population based cross-sectional study carried out in the urban area of Gwalior city for a period of one year. Stratified random sampling technique was used for the selection of the samples. The study participants were interviewed using a pretested semi-structured open-ended questionnaire. Proportion, Pearson''s, chi-square test and odds ratio were calculated for the analysis of the study.

Result:

Of the 144 study participants, 68 participants reported some form of domestic violence, which was either physical, sexual or emotional. The most common type of violence reported was physical violence. The most important risk factor for domestic violence was alcoholism followed by literacy status. Majority of the abused women were dependent on their husbands for money, material assets and expenditure.

Conclusion:

The study hereby recommends that to prevent domestic violence government has to take stringent action for making women more self-reliant especially by making the women more literate and more financially independent.     

唐山农村地区妇女家庭暴力的影响因素

[目的]研究唐山市农村地区家庭暴力的发生情况,以探讨影响家庭暴力发生的因素。[方法]在唐山市农村地区抽取3个村,对部分已婚妇女进行面对面问卷调查;采用SPSS12.0软件进行描述性分析、χ^2检验、logistic多元回归分析。[结果]唐山市农村地区已婚妇女躯体暴力的发生率为12.4%,性暴力的发生率为11.2%,心理暴力的发生率为20.6%。影响躯体暴力发生的主要因素有：妇女暴力生活经历和妇女家庭地位。[结论]农村已婚妇女家庭暴力发生率较高,将会对妇女身心健康造成很大影响。     

Domestic violence as a health issue

This issue of the National Women's Health Report focuses on violence against women, specifically violence in the household. It contains four main articles namely: domestic violence as a health issue; facts and fallacies of domestic violence; physical assessment of battered women; and awareness of domestic violence. The first article discusses the formal recognition of domestic violence as a public health issue and various measures taken to reduce its incidence. Such strategies include establishing hospital protocols for victims of abuse and increasing awareness on battering in the nursing profession. The second article briefly describes the Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is held every October. The third article talks about certain facts on domestic violence. It points out how patterns of abuse occur within the family and describes certain actions to protect the future generation from domestic violence. Insights into the physical assessment of battered women were provided in the fourth article. A follow-up report on the one-day conference titled "Violence Against Women" was also presented.     

不孕症夫妇家庭暴力发生情况及影响因素分析

目的探讨家庭暴力中男女各方的影响因素,家庭暴力与男性性功能障碍、女性怀孕之间的关系.方法采用现状调查.2003年被诊断为不孕症的夫妇中抽取510对,对不孕症的情况、性功能障碍发生情况、家庭暴力发生情况及相关的知识态度进行问卷调查.结果有7.6%的丈夫发生了性功能障碍,实施过家庭暴力的丈夫中21.1%的人患有性功能障碍,未实施过家庭暴力的丈夫只有5.2%的人患有性功能障碍.有26.9%的妻子在最近一年遭受过家庭暴力.有24.6%的妻子在过去一年怀孕,其中遭受过精神暴力的妻子怀孕率为16.1%,未遭受过精神暴力的妻子怀孕率为26.3%.结论造成家庭暴力女方的因素有年龄、结婚年限、文化程度、经济收入、是否与公婆一起居住.造成家庭暴力的男方因素有年龄、是否出外打工、男性性功能障碍、家庭暴力知识态度的情况.家庭暴力可以引起男性性功能障碍和不孕,精神暴力可以引起女性不孕.要促进生殖健康就应该防止家庭暴力的发生.     

温州地区已婚妇女家庭暴力的现状及影响因素

  目的  调查温州地区已婚妇女遭受家庭暴力行为的发生情况,并探讨其影响因素。  方法  2018年采用多阶段分层抽样方法抽取705名温州地区已婚妇女作为调查对象,通过自填式问卷调查收集其基本信息、近12个月内家庭暴力行为发生情况及相关因素。  结果  约40%的已婚妇女在过去的12个月遭受了至少一次暴力行为,其中心理暴力的年发生率约为33.8%,其次是身体暴力19.1%和性暴力14.9%;在遭受家庭暴力的已婚妇女中,超过半数经历了多重暴力。Logistic回归分析模型分析结果显示,来至农村、结婚时间10年以下和两地分居的已婚妇女遭受家庭暴力的风险性更高,而配偶文化水平高、初婚、婚姻满意度高、婚姻自主、夫妻角色相辅相成的已婚妇女能较好地避免家庭暴力。  结论  已婚妇女遭受暴力发生率较为普遍,应引起重视,采取针对性的综合措施防范妇女家庭暴力的发生。     

家庭暴力对流动人口已婚育龄妇女性与生殖健康的影响

目的：了解丈夫的身体暴力或性暴力对流动人口已婚育龄妇女性与生殖健康的影响。方法：在上海市某中心城区采用以社区为基础的多阶段整群抽样方法对符合条件的流动人口已婚育龄妇女进行问卷调查,共收回有效问卷958份。结果：曾经或最近1年遭受过身体暴力或性暴力的对象有不良妊娠结局、曾经或最近1年有生殖道感染症状、性生活不和谐、曾经感到缺乏性欲和最近1年感到缺乏性欲的比例显著高于同一时期从未遭受过任何暴力的对象。Logistic回归分析发现,遭受过身体暴力或性暴力的对象有不良妊娠结局、生殖道感染、妇科疾病、性生活不和谐和缺乏性欲的危险性是未遭受过任何暴力对象的2.05～4.79倍。结论：身体暴力或性暴力对流动人口已婚育龄妇女的性与生殖健康状况有显著影响。     

Physical violence by husbands: magnitude, disclosure and help-seeking behavior of women in Bangladesh

This paper explores the magnitude of physical violence by husbands, the disclosure of it and the help-seeking behavior of abused women in urban and rural Bangladesh. The data come from a larger study on domestic violence against women conducted in Bangladesh during 2000-2004. All ever-married women covered by the population-based survey component (n=2702) conducted in 2001 were included in the current analysis. We also draw on in-depth interviews with 28 women who were physically abused by their husbands. Results show a high prevalence of lifetime physical spousal violence against women: 40% in urban and 42% in rural areas. Most of the abused women (66%) were silent about their experience. The main reasons behind this silence were high acceptance of violence, stigma and fear of greater harm. Sixty percent of urban and 51% of rural abused women never received any help from others. Only 2% ever sought help from institutional sources, from where support was not forthcoming. Women approached these sources only when they could not endure anymore or the violence became life threatening or children were at risk. The findings show that although providing appropriate services is absolutely necessary, it is also important to foster the use of such services and to help women overcome the barriers for accessing these services.