Intimate Partner Violence, Its Sociocultural Practice, and Its Associated Factors Among Women in Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Background

Intimate partner violence is a serious and widespread problem worldwide. It is a domestic violence by a spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner. Even though Ethiopia is also one of the countries where the condition has been seriously happening, there is a dearth of information in the study area.

Objective

To assess the prevalence of intimate partner violence and its sociocultural practice, and its associated factors among married women in Oromia, Central Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 671 women of Ambo district who were in marriage from March 1 to 30, 2018. Multistage sampling method was employed to select study participants. Data were collected using interviewer-administered WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done using SPSS version 20.0.

Results

Out of 671 married women expected to participate, 657 of them participated in the study making a response rate of 98%. Overall, 77% (95% CI 73.7–80.1%), and 62.4% (95% CI, 58.6–66.1%) of the respondents reported that they have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime and in the last one year, respectively. Lack of formal education by husband (AOR 2.30, 95% CI 1.28–4.15), housewife occupation of respondents (AOR 2.04, 95% CI 1.02–4.06), number of children (AOR 4.37, 95% CI 1.40–13.66), perceived husband dominance (AOR 1.74, 95% CI 1.15–2.63), grow up in domestic violence (AOR 1.53, 95% CI 1.00–2.35) and partner’s alcohol intake (AOR 1.77, 95% CI 1.12–2.79) were independently associated with intimate partner violence.

Conclusion

Intimate partner violence against women remains an important public health problem. This needs urgent attention at all levels of societal hierarchy including policymakers, stakeholders, and professionals to alleviate the situation.

Keywords:

• intimate partner violence
• women
• prevalence
• associated factors

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the study participants and all other peoples who had formally or informally involved in the accomplishment of this research.

Abbreviations

CI, confidence interval; ETB, Ethiopian Birr; HH, household; IPV, intimate partner violence; NGOs, non-governmental organizations; SD, standard deviation; SPSS, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences; USD, United States Dollar; WHO, World Health Organization.

Data Sharing Statement

Data will be available upon request from the corresponding author.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The ethical issue was approved by the Research and Ethical Review Committee of College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ambo University with Ref. No.: CMHS-ERC: 31/2010 and project number: CMHS: 007/18. Hierarchically all administrative bodies were communicated and permission was secured. Verbal informed consent was obtained from the study subjects who aged eighteen years and above, and the verbal informed consent process was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of College of Medical and Health Sciences, Ambo University. Written informed consent was obtained from the parent/legal guardian for study subjects whose age was below eighteen years after explaining objectives and procedures of the study and their right to participate or to withdraw at any time in of the interview. The Research and Ethical Review Committee also approved its ethical issues as there was no procedure that affects the study subject and the data is used only for research purpose. For this purpose, a one-page consent letter was attached to the cover page of each questionnaire stating about the general purpose of the study and issues of confidentiality which was discussed by data collectors before proceeding to the interview. Lastly, we confirm that this study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was obtained for this study.