The pattern and correlates of intimate partner violence among women in Kano, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been increasingly recognised as a major public health and human rights problem that cuts across all populations, irrespective of social, economic, religious or cultural groups.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence, pattern and correlates of IPV among women attending the General Out Patient Clinic of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. It was also designed to determine the pattern of health complications associated with IPV as well as the perception of women on intimate partner violence.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, hospital-based study. Three hundred and ninety-three women aged 15-49 years who were in or had ever been in an intimate relationship were recruited. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data about their socio-demographic characteristics while information on IPV was obtained using the Composite Abuse Scale. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0.

RESULTS: The prevalence of IPV within the previous year was 42.0%. Of all the 393 participants recruited in the study, 46.6% had experienced emotional/psychological violence, harassment/controlling behaviour was present in 43.3%, physical violence was reported in 29.0%, sexual violence was present in 21.9% and 37.9% of the participants had experienced severe combined abuse. Being married (χ2 = 24.726, p = 0.000) and pregnancy reduced the risk of IPV (χ2= 6.690, p = 0.030), while polygamous family setting (χ2 = 9.734, p = 0.008) and an extended family type (χ2 = 9.593, p = 0.023) were associated with an increased risk of IPV. Alcohol consumption by the partner (p = 0.000, OR 2.335, CI 1.151-3.230) was found to be a positive correlate as well as a complication of IPV. Other patterns of health complications that were significantly associated with IPV were depression (p = 0.000, OR 3.517, CI 4.061-22.306), miscarriage (p = 0.004, OR 2.080, CI 1.591-2.269) and the presence of physical injuries in the participants (p = 0.024, OR 2.405, CI 2.345-4.234). One hundred and fifty-nine (40.5%) of the participants agreed that a husband is justified for beating or hitting his wife and neglecting the child was the reason given by most of the participants (26.7%) to justify IPV.

CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of IPV among women of reproductive age in this study shows that it is an important problem that women would rather not talk about or have accepted as a norm. It is associated with poor physical and mental health of women who are victims.

RECOMMENDATION: It is therefore recommended that physicians routinely screen for IPV especially in patients with depressive symptoms, miscarriage and physical injuries. Screening will be a safe and cost-effective means for identifying women experiencing IPV, leading to appropriate interventions that will decrease further exposure to IPV and its adverse health consequences.