The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on September 12, 2005
The European Journal of Public Health 2006 16(2):149-156; doi:10.1093/eurpub/cki161
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Maternal and Child Health |
Physical, emotional and sexual violence during pregnancy in Malatya, Turkey
Leyla Karaoglu1, Osman Celbis2, Cihan Ercan1, Mehtap Ilgar1, Erkan Pehlivan1, Gulsen Gunes1, Metin F. Genc1 and Mucahit Egri1
1 Inonu University, Medical Faculty, Public Health Department, Malatya, Turkey
2 Inonu University, Medical Faculty, Forensic Medicine Department, Malatya, Turkey
Correspondence: Leyla Karaoglu, MD, Inonu University, Medical Faculty, Public Health Department, 44069, Malatya, Turkey, tel: +90 422 341 06 60/1405, fax: +90 422 341 00 36, e-mail: lkaraoglu{at}inonu.edu.tr
Background: In Turkey, violence against women was established as a critical area of concern related to women and various prevention strategies have been developed since 1980. There are limited numbers of studies on violence during pregnancy in the country. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of physical, emotional and sexual violence during pregnancy in Malatya province and the associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional interview survey was conducted among pregnant women living in Malatya province between October 2003 and May 2004. Stratified probability-proportional-to-size sampling methodology was used for selecting the study population. A total of 824 pregnant women from 60 clusters were studied. Association between violence prevalences and womens' sociodemographic, fertility and behavioural characteristics were evaluated. Results: During pregnancy 31.7% of women were exposed to any form of violence. Emotional violence was the most frequently reported form (26.7%), followed by sexual (9.7%) and physical violence (8.1%). Regular smoking [odds ratio (OR) 1.6], unwanted pregnancy (OR 1.8), living in urban area (OR 1.5), low education level of husband (OR 1.7), low family income (OR 1.9) and being in second trimester (OR 1.4) were determined to be the main predictors of overall violence during pregnancy. Conclusions: Violence during pregnancy is a common public health problem in Malatya. Low education level in partners, low family income, husband's unemployment, urban settlement, unwanted pregnancy and smoking should alert health staff towards violence at pregnancy and training of health personnel on the subject is recommended.
Keywords: emotional violence, physical violence, sexual violence, pregnancy