Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence and Associated Factors Among People With HIV: A Large-Sample Cross-Sectional Study in China

Abstract

To assess the prevalence and exacerbating factors of intimate partner violence in people living with HIV in China, we conducted a cross-sectional study, involving 2792 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in four provinces in China from Sep 1, 2020, to Jun 1, 2021. The category of Intimate partner violence (IPV) included physical violence, sexual violence, emotional abuse and controlling behavior. The severity of a violent act was divided into mild, moderate and severe. Among PLHIV, the prevalence of IPV was 15.4% (95% CI: 14.1-16.8%). The severity of physical violence was mainly moderate, and the severity of sexual violence, emotional abuse and controlling behavior was mainly mild. The prevalence of IPV in men was higher than that in women. Results from the multivariable logistic regression showed that age, ethnic, registered residence, education, and duration of HIV ART were factors related to IPV in PLHIV (P < 0.05).

Prevalence and Forms of Intimate Partner Violence among People Living with HIV/AIDS in Sokoto State, Nigeria

“…In this study, the commonest form of abuse experienced by our respondents was psychological (8.5%) followed by sexual and physical abuse. This is in consonance with findings from other studies [17,61,73,72].…”

“…However this is not always the case and in the absence of any visible compromise by men, women are now known to perpetrate violence against men as seen in this study where 4.5% of the men were known to have experienced violence. The prevalence of IPV among men is low when compared to similar studies in rural Appalachia USA 39% [60], Enugu Nigeria 39% [56], Uganda 69.3% [17], and China 16.3% [72]. The high prevalence observed in other studies may not be unrelated to good reporting of IPV in those societies compared to our study area where abuse of men must not be heard as such trends if in public domain will demean men and see them as weak.…”