Abstract:
Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is a human right and public health concern, often life‑threatening to
both the mother and fetus. This study sought to ascertain the prevalence of IPV, pattern, and associated factors in a Nigerian obstetric
population. Materials and Methods: This is a cross‑sectional study among 338 pregnant women at term between January and July
2015 using pretested self‑administered questionnaires to ascertain their sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics as well as
partners’ features. IPV was assessed using the hurt, insult, threaten, and scream validated screening tool. Data were analyzed using
SPSS version 20 for windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Multivariate analysis was done to ascertain associated factors for IPV
and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Prevalence of IPV among women was 14.8% (50/338). One hundred
and twenty‑seven respondents (37.6%) suffered verbal abuse, 28.4% had physical violence, while 5.3% reported sexual abuse.
Most of the women, i.e., 72.0% (36/50) did not report violence and 76.0% (38/50) disclosed that they still felt safe in their marital
relationship. Independent risk factors for IPV were duration of marriage of 6.8 years (P = 0.04, odds ratio [OR] =8.8, 95% confidence
interval [CI] =7.8–9.9), maternal primary educational status (P = 0.02, OR = 10.7, 95% CI = 1.1–103.1), and male partner cigarette
smoking (P = 0.003, OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 3.0–316.0). Conclusion: IPV during pregnancy is common in this obstetric population.
Screening for IPV should be a part of routine antenatal care, especially among women with long marriage duration, primary educational
status, and those whose husbands smoking cigarettes is recommended.
