Prevalence of and demographic factors associated with domestic violence among Iranian older adults: the results of Urban HEART-2

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of and demographic factors associated with domestic violence among Iranian older adults based on the Urban HEART-2 project in Tehran, Iran. The study was a part of the second round of the Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART-2) project, which was a large, populationbased, cross-sectional study. Individuals aged ≥ 60 years were selected randomly through a multistage, cluster sampling method from 368 neighborhoods of 22 districts of Tehran. A total of 15,069 older adults, 79% married and 45.22% female, were included in the study. The mean age of the participants was 68.93 ± 7.27 years. The overall prevalence of physical domestic violence was 2.32%. Factors such as age, gender, schooling, and having a disability were significantly associated with domestic violence (p < .05). These results are likely to be an underestimate of what really happens in the community, as many authors have mentioned previously. Therefore, it is necessary to broaden our perspectives on the phenomenon of domestic violence against the elderly, especially in the fields of public health and nursing.