Yaser Sarikhani2, Seyyed Taghi Heydari1, Nasrin Asadi3, Maryam Kazemi1, Ahmad Kalateh

Introduction: Violence against women, or domestic violence, is both a physical and mental health issue that is rampant in many societies. It undermines the personal health of those involved by inflicting physical, sexual, and psychological damage. Domestic violence during pregnancy is a major health problem with significant psychological and physical impairments for pregnant women. The purpose of this research was to determine prevalence of domestic violence against women in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: In this cross sectional study which was conducted in 2016 in Shiraz, 1990 pregnant women who were referred to Pregnant Women s Care Center in public university affiliated hospitals were selected using stratified random sampling. The data was collected using a researcher-made checklist and a standard questionnaire for violence. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 20 and the significance level was set at 0.05. Results: Mean age of pregnant women was 28.90±5.82 (range: 15.6 to 49.3). The mean score of domestic violence was 34.48±13.49 (range: 26-130), also the mean score of psychological violence, economic abuse, physical violence, and sexual violence were 16.06±6.89, 6.37±2.90, 7.15±3.14, and 4.93±1.91 respectively. The mean score of masculinity and the impact of traditional family on violence were 74.23±22.90 and 9.20±4.24. The prevalence of score higher than mean of domestic violence, psychological violence, economic abuse, physical violence, and sexual violence were 27.2%, 32.2%, 23.9%, 18.8%, and 32.9% respectively. ConclusionDomestic violence is considered as an important risk marker for the development of obstetric complications. Raising awareness of the significance of these problems may improve care, support and even outcomes for women and their newborns.

Keywords:

Domestic Violence , Pregnant Women , Prevalence , Iran