Obstetric violence in southwestern Turkey: Risk factors and its relationship to postpartum depression

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between violence, risk factors, and depression at the end of pregnancy. The sample of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of 426 women for normal postpartum monitoring during the six-month period and living in southwestern Turkey of the study. About 5.6% of the women who participated in the study were exposed to obstetric violence. 5.2% of them were intimate partner violence before pregnancy. 79.1% (n = 24), 29.1%, and 25% of them were subjected to physical, sexual, and economic violence, respectively. In addition, 7.5% of women were exposed to verbal obstetric violence. It was found that the postpartum depression scores of the women who had been subjected to violence from their husbands before pregnancy were high.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank all the women who participated in the study.

Author contributions

S.Ç., G.E., and I.I., contributed to the conception and design of this study; S.Ç, G.E., and I.I., performed data collection and drafted the manuscript; and S.Ç, and G.E. critically reviewed the manuscript and supervised the whole study process. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical approval

Ethical committee approval for the study was obtained from the Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (No: GO 2018/112). In order to carry out the study, written permission was also obtained from the Burdur Provincial Directorate of Health (23286918-806.02.02).

Authorship Statement confirming

Authors meet the authorship criteria and that all authors are in agreement with the content of the manuscript.

Permission

In order to carry out the study, written permission was also obtained from the Burdur Provincial Directorate of Health (23286918-806.02.02).

Additional information

Funding

The authors did not receive any financial support in conducting this study.