Article Sidebar
Published:
Feb 15, 2019Keywords:
Article Details
The entire contents of the Tropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology are protected under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use.
This journal content is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Main Article Content
Intimate partner violence and fertility‑related issues: A cross‑sectional survey of women attending antenatal clinic at the university college hospital, Ibadan
Abstract
Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) in pregnancy is of great public health importance because it involves two lives (mother and fetus). It is a range of behavior exhibited by a current or former partner with the potential of causing physical, emotional, or sexual harm to the receiver. This study aims to establish the prevalence and predictors of IPV and its association with fertility‑related characteristics and behaviors.
Methods: A descriptive cross‑sectional survey involving 322 consenting pregnant women. A semi‑structured self‑administered questionnaire was employed for data collection. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.
Results: The mean age of the respondents was 30.8 ± 4.5 years with parity ranging from 0 to 5. The prevalence of IPV was higher (81.0%) among respondents who had children compared to those who had no children (19.0%). The common forms of IPV experienced by the women in this study were shouting (86.7%), verbal abuse (76.2%), and slapping (57.1%). Other serious forms of IPV experienced included forced sex (14.3%) and threats to the life of the respondents (4.8%). Polygamy and low educational attainment were strong predictors of IPV risk (P < 0.05). Contraceptive use before pregnancy and husband’s support of its use were not statistically significant (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: IPV is an unpalatable event. The prevalence rate of IPV was 6.5% in this study with the most common forms being shouting and verbal abuse. Polygamy and low educational attainment were significant risk factors for IPV. The desire for conception in this study was 76.2% with IPV prevalence slightly higher in respondents with children (7.9%). Educating the girl child would bring stability to the home by reducing the prevalence of IPV.
Keywords: Fertility issues; intimate partner violence; pregnant women
