Prevalence and Factors Associated with Intimate Partner Violence among Postpartum Women Attending Government Primary Health Care Clinics in Malaysia

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important gender-based, social, and public health problem that affects women worldwide, including women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. Studies have shown that violence against women often increases during pregnancy and the postpartum period. This study aims to examine lifetime and past-year prevalence of IPV among postpartum women in Malaysia, and to determine the socio-demographic as well as husband's/partner's behavioral factors associated with IPV exposure. This is a nationwide, cross-sectional and clinic-based study involving a total of 5727 women at 6 to 16 weeks postpartum, who attended randomly selected government health clinics between July to November 2016. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by trained female enumerators based on a pre-validated structured questionnaire, using mobile devices as data collection tools. Chisquared tests and multivariable logistic regressions were used to investigate selected factors associated with IPVexposure. The lifetime and past-year prevalence of any form of IPV among postpartum women were 4.94% (95% CI [3.81,6.39]) and 2.42% (95% CI [1.74,3.35]) respectively, with the highest prevalence being emotional violence, followed by physical and sexual violence. Multivariable analysis showed that husband's/partner's behaviors, such as frequent alcohol use, drug use, fighting habits and controlling behaviour were significantly associated with both lifetime and past-year IPV (all p < 0.001 for past-year IPV). These findings suggest that prevention and intervention strategies for IPV should consider the prevention of substance use and reducing controlling behaviors by husband/partner, as well as raising awareness to build healthy relationships through education.

Prevalence of intimate partner violence in Malaysia and its associated factors: a systematic review

“…Women’s attitude which condones patriarchal supremacy, justification of husbands to hit wives and justification of wives to refuse sex on certain conditions were more likely to experience any types of violence during pregnancy (AOR 1.47 95% CI = 1.1, 1.98); (AOR 1.93 95% CI = 1.51, 2.59); (AOR 1.89 95% CI = 1.31, 2.72) respectively. Chan, Y., Y., et al (2019) [ 16 ] Cross-sectional study 106 government primary health care clinics in 16 states within Malaysia 6669 women between 6 to 16 weeks post-partum, aged 18 years and above recruited via random cluster sampling To determine the prevalence and factors associated with lifetime and past-year IPV among post-partum women 1. The overall prevalence of lifetime and past-year IPV among post-partum women in this study were 4.94% (95% CI [3.81,6.39]) and 2.42% (95% CI [1.74,3.35]) respectively.…”

“…All of the five included studies were of crosssectional design in which one of the studies was generated from secondary data [17]. Only two studies adopted probability sampling [14,16] while the other three studies used either universal or convenient sampling method. Out of five included studies, four of them were conducted at government health settings (both primary health clinics and hospitals) [14][15][16]18] while the other one study was generated from secondary data obtained from Malaysia Women's Aid Organization [17].…”

“…Only two studies adopted probability sampling [14,16] while the other three studies used either universal or convenient sampling method. Out of five included studies, four of them were conducted at government health settings (both primary health clinics and hospitals) [14][15][16]18] while the other one study was generated from secondary data obtained from Malaysia Women's Aid Organization [17]. In terms of the study population, two studies were conducted among general women population [14,18] while another two studies were carried out among pregnant and postpartum women [15,16].…”

“…Two studies reported emotional or psychological abuse as the most common form of IPV (13% out of 22%) [14,15] (29.8%; CI = [0.27, 0.32]). One study reported both lifetime prevalence of IPV and past-year prevalence of IPV which was reported as 4.94% (95% CI [3.81,6.39]) and 2.42% (95% CI [1.74,3.35]) respectively [16]. A detailed description on the frequency of IPV among victims was described by Awang et al [17] whereby 26% of the survivors were being abused nearly daily, 37% abused up to three times a week, and 26% were victims of an unpredictable frequency of abuse.…”

Cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitude and prevalence of domestic violence among women in Kaduna, north-western Nigeria

“…Studies have shown variability of factors such as age, educational level, socioeconomic status, employment and marital status that influence the risk of experiencing DV, [43][44][45] and these associations have not been consistent. Mixed results have been shown with regard to the age of women and their experience of DV.…”