The prevalence and types of domestic violence against pregnant women referred to maternity clinics in Shahrekord, 2003

Domestic violence during pregnancy causes significant mental and physical impairment in both mother and fetus and is an important threat to social health. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and types of domestic violence against pregnant women referred to maternity clinics in Shahrekord, 2003. This descriptive and analytical study was performed on 1600 pregnant women referred to maternity clinics in Shahrekord during year 2003. Using a questionnaire, the demographic characteristics were collected and the data was analyzed using c2 test. The prevalence of domestic violence was % 67.5 including physical (%39.5), psychological (%51.7) and sexual (%13.8) violence. The detrimental effects on the women due to the violence were physical (%17.44), psychological (%12.56) and sexual (%0.4). There was no correlation between the domestic violence and residence place, education and age of marriage. However, the rate of violence in the women with less than five years of marriage life, with poor economical condition, with first pregnancy, with unemployed and drug addicted husbands was statistically higher (p<0.05). Our results showed that the prevalence of domestic violence in this city is high and it is significantly related to poor economical condition, unemployment, addiction, first pregnancy and duration of marriage life.