Intimate partner violence among postpartum women at a teachinghospital in Nigeria’s Federal Capital City: pattern and materno-fetaloutcomes

摘要

Background:Intimate partner violence is an important public health and human rightsissue. Previous studies have considered intimate partner violence inpregnancy mainly among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics therebymissing out a few who may encounter this problem in late pregnancy or justbefore delivery. This study had the objective of ascertaining theprevalence, pattern of intimate partner violence, and associatedmaterno-fetal outcomes.Method:This was a cross-sectional study conducted between January 2017 and June 2017among postpartum mothers at a Nigerian Teaching Hospital just before beingdischarged home. The abuse assessment score was adapted and used tointerview women regarding possible intimate partner violence experienceswithin the past 1 year and during the pregnancy after obtaining writtenconsent.Results:Out of 349 postpartum women interviewed, 102/349 (29.2%) experienced intimatepartner violence in the past 1 year, while 18/349 (5.2%) of intimate partnerviolence occurred in the index pregnancy. Sexual partners were the mainperpetuators of intimate partner violence, 67/102 (65.7%), while 35/102(34.3%) were by someone else other than their sexual partners. Among thoseabused in the current pregnancy, 10/18 (55.6%) were abused once and theremaining 8/18 (44.4%) were abused more than once. Intimate partner violencewas associated with higher chances of cesarean section( p ?=?0.001), increased risk of lesser birth weight babies( p ?=?0.014), and maternal complications in pregnancy( p ?=?0.030).Conclusion:The prevalence of intimate partner violence in pregnancy in Abuja is highwith associated poor materno-fetal outcomes. Enforcing existing legislationsand screening for intimate partner violence during routine antenatal caremay help reduce its prevalence and ensure a positive pregnancy experiencefor Nigerian women.