Intimate partner violence and use of contraceptives in Bangladesh: Results from a national sample

Abstract

The effect of intimate partner violence (IPV) on women's lives includes negative reproductive health outcomes by way of compromised control over their bodies. This effect is contextual, which leads to contradictory implications for practitioners involved in sexual and reproductive health. The current article adds to the literature by providing an examination of the association between partner violence and contraceptive use in a nationally representative sample of married women in Bangladesh, where some 24% of national samples of women report IPV. The study is a secondary data analysis of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007 with a sample of 4,467 women aged 15–49 years. Significant main effects were observed for partner violence: The probability of using contraceptives was 9% higher for women who reported partner violence compared with women who did not. Additionally, women were more likely to use contraceptives when they had children under the age of five and were employed. Policy and practice implications for social work are discussed. Key Practitioner Message: • To understand how intimate partner violence may increase the odds of contraceptive use as a way of “help seeking”; • To understand the implications of contraceptive use in a Muslim majority population; • To provide policy suggestions for bundling services for intimate partner violence with reproductive health services.