Intimate partner violence (IPV): The validity of an IPV screening instrument utilized among pregnant women in Tanzania and Vietnam

Abstract

BackgroundIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a global problem that affects one-third of all women. The present study aims to develop and determine the validity of a screening instrument for the detection of IPV in pregnant women in Tanzania and Vietnam and to determine the minimum number of questions needed to identify IPV.MethodAn IPV screening instrument based on eight questions was tested on 1,116 Tanzanian and 1,309 Vietnamese women who attended antenatal care before 24 gestational weeks. The women were re-interviewed during their 30th-34th gestational week where the World Health Organization (WHO) IPV questionnaire was used as the gold standard. In all, 255 combinations of eight different questions were first tested on the Tanzanian study population where sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy were calculated. In the evaluation of the performance of the question combinations, different IPV types and the frequency of abusive acts were considered. The question combinations that performed best in Tanzania were subsequently evaluated in the Vietnamese study population.ResultsIn Tanzania, a combination of three selected questions including one question on emotional IPV, one on physical IPV and one on sexual IPV was found to be most effective in identifying women who are exposed to at least one type of IPV during pregnancy (sensitivity = .80; specificity = .74). The performance of the identified combination was slightly less effective in Vietnam (sensitivity = .74; specificity = .68). Focusing on different IPV types, the best performance was found for exposure to physical IPV in both Tanzania (sensitivity = .93; specificity = .70) and Vietnam (sensitivity = .96; specificity = .55). In both countries, the sensitivity increased with the frequency of abuse whereas the specificity decreased.ConclusionBy asking pregnant women three simple questions we were able to identify women who were exposed to IPV during pregnancy in two different countries. The question combination performed best in assessing physical IPV where it identified 93% and 96% of Vietnamese and Tanzanian women, respectively, who were exposed to physical IPV.

Intimate partner violence in pregnancy: a cross-sectional study from post-conflict northern Uganda

“…Apart from the DHS, there are few other studies in Uganda, but older hospital-based studies record a prevalence of physical IPV in pregnancy similar to our findings 16 17. Other research in SSA found physical IPV in pregnancy rates of 22.5%, 22% and 9% in Nigeria, 10.7% in Tanzania and 36% in South Africa 22–25. Similar studies in other low resource settings such as India (12%) and Bangladesh (35.2%) reveal much lower rates of physical IPV in pregnancy than reported in SSA,26 with the exception of a single study in Bangladesh 27.…”

Antenatal Depression and Associated Factors among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care Service in Kochi Health Center, Jimma Town, Ethiopia

“…Accordingly, social support was classified into three categories: high social support (scores 24–30), medium social support [ 18 – 23 ], and low social support (below 18) categories [ 21 ]. Intimate partner violence was measured by intimate partner violence scale; intimate partner violence was considered if a pregnant woman reported one of the following during the current pregnancy: husband/partner have done things to scare or intimidate on purpose or threatened to hurt someone they care about or hit, slapped, or thrown something that could hurt her or forced or pressured to have sexual intercourse when she did not want to [ 25 , 26 ]. Obstetric and clinical parameters in this study include pregnancy planning, gravidity, parity, trimester, history of abortion, history of stillbirth, perceived complication during a previous pregnancy, having currently known medical illness, and currently taking medication.…”

The effect of antenatal depression on birth weight among newborns in South Gondar zone, Northwest Ethiopia: a population-based prospective cohort study

“…We identified women who were exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) during pregnancy by asking pregnant women three questions on emotional IPV, physical IPV, and sexual IPV. The presence of IPV was ascertained by the presence of at least one type of IPV [ 61 ].…”