THE PREVALENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN WHO WERE ATTENDED IN IRAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES HOSPITALS

The prevalence of domestic violence (DV), men’s violence against women during pregnancy is very high, and is associated with significant psychological and physical impairment of mother and the fetus. The major objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of DV among expectant mothers who had attended in Iran University of Medical Sciences’ (IUMS) hospitals. Design: This is a cross sectional study, in which the subjects were interviewed by using a standard questionnaire. Sample: 1800 subjects were selected, by using consecutive sampling in 6 major hospitals of IUMS. The prevalence of DV was found to be 60.6%, including 3 types of physical, psychological and sexual, with the prevalence of 14.6%, 60.5% and 23.5% respectively. Severe physical DV was 43.3. Severe psychological and sexual DV were also found (24.2 and 3.5%). DV had a high prevalence in this study. It is recommended that all accessible pregnant women be screened for DV. Study of the prevalence of DV within the community with a larger sample size, and using cluster sampling method would be of immense value.