Domestic violence among women attending out-patient clinics in Ain Shams University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
Author: Bakr IM, Ismail NA.
Source:
Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 80(5-6), 629-650.
Violence affects millions of women worldwide and it cuts across cultural and
religious barriers, impeding the women's right to participate fully in the
society. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to determine the
prevalence of domestic violence among ever married females presenting to out
patient clinics in Ain Shams university hospitals and to identify factors
affecting it. Out of a total number of 509 women, 89.8% had experienced one or
more episodes of violent behavior by their husbands of which 56%, 88.4% and 47.9%
suffered physical, control and threat violence. Both univariate and multivariate
analysis was done. The most common form of violence among the study group was
husband's shouting followed by being kept short of money. About 34.2% had been
beaten by their husbands and 17.1% were forced to do sex. Using multiple logistic
regression it was found that smoking husband and economic problems were
independent significant factors associated with all forms of violence. Suffering
violence was significantly associated with different forms of health complaints
and only 9.1% had been asked by their doctors on domestic violence exposure. This
proposes the importance of effective screening, diagnosis and management of
domestic violence victims.