Violence against women: A comparative study of the pattern and experience before and during pregnancy among antenatal clinic attendees at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: While violence against women is increasing globally, its prevention and evaluation in pregnancy has not receiving  adequate attention.
Aim: To evaluate the occurrence and pattern of violence against women before and during index pregnancy.
Methods: A prospective, comparative study comprising 200 antenatal clinic attendees categorized into two groups of 100 each was conducted at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. Group I consisted of women who had suffered violence  previously while those in group II did not have such experience. Participants were recruited at the antenatal clinic and informed consent obtained. Participants were screened using a modified version of Abuse Assessment Screen from Centre for Disease Control; the data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and p<0.05 was significant.
Result: There was similarity in the age (p0.688), marital status (p0.605), level of education (p0.914) and gestational age at booking (p0.490) among the two groups. Alcohol consumption was significantly higher (21 vs. 10; p0.045) among partners of victims of violence (group I). Physical violence decreased from 47% before to 22% during index pregnancy while sexual violence reduced from 53% vs. 50%. A total of 68 cases of psychological violence (68%) occurred during pregnancy. The partner was responsible in 78.7% of physical and 84.7% of sexual violence cases before pregnancy as well as 91.0% of physical, 100.0% of sexual and 78.0% of psychological violence which occurred during index pregnancy.
Conclusion: Violence against women (especially psychological violence) is heightened during pregnancy. Routine screening for violence during pregnancy is justified because it is associated with poor maternal/fetal outcomes while its prevalence is higher than other conditions routinely screened for in pregnancy.