Prevalence of violence among pregnant women attending to health care centers in west of Tehran

Abuse during pregnancy is the most common reproductive health problem. Rregarding the importance of mother's health promotion, the present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of spouse abuse and associated individual and pregnancy factors among pregnant women attending to health care centers of Western Tehran in 2007. In this cross sectional study, 370 pregnant women, attending in selected health care centers were selected consecutively from February to April in 2007. The data collection tool consisted of associated factors questionnaire and "Adopted Standard Tool" (A.A.S). Data were analyzed using SPSS 14 software, descriptive statistics, and logistic regression. In all, 59.7% of the women reported spouse abuse during pregnancy. Education, occupation, abuse during childhood, witnessing conflict between their parents, drug abuse and cigarette smoking in wife or her husband, and inadequate prenatal care and unplanned pregnancy were significantly associated with abuse (p≤0.05). It is necessary to plan visits screening for abuse. Women with inadequate prenatal care and unplanned pregnancy should be viewed as pivotal priorities for screening, prevention and support.