Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

  Background and Objectives : Domestic violence is a public health problem. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of domestic violence types in women referred to health care centers in Rafsanjan city in 2012 .

  Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study encompassed 540 women refering to the seven health care centers, by multi-stage sampling method. Data collection tool was a self-response questionnaire that included demographic information and questions concerning the types of domestic violence. Fisher's exact test, and also X ² test for trend were utilized to analyze the data.

  Results: Women’s age ranged between 19-60 years with a mean and standard deviation of 31.28±7.83 years. Overall 50.9% of the women reported experiencing violence. Out of which, 23.1% physical, 38.1% verbal, 21.3% emotional, and 18.9% had experienced sexual violence. Domestic violence was found to be statistically associated with woman's age (p<0.001), husband's age (p=0.001), woman's education (p=0.005), husband's job (p=0.010), history of mental disorders in spouses (p<0.001 in woman, and p=0.001 in man), number of marriages of husband (p<0.001), and the presence of a handicapped child in the family (p<0.001).

  Conclusion: M ore than half of the women had experienced domestic violence. Sexual violence reached the lowest whereas verbal violence reached the highest frequencies. Considering the high frequency of domestic violence and the association with some spouses' characteristics, promoting spouses' awareness of this problem and its contributing factors are necessary in order to decrease this problem.

  Key words: Domestic violence, Spousal abuse, Women

  Funding: This research was funded by Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences.

  Conflict of interest: None declared.

  Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences approved the study.

  How to cite this article : Torkashvand F, Rezaeian M, Sheikh Fathollahi M , Mehrabian M, Bidaki R, Garousi B, Movahhedi M. The Prevalence of the Types of Domestic Violence on Women Referred to Health Care Center in Rafsanjan in 2012 . J Rafsanjan Univ Med Scie 2013 12(9): 695-708. [Farsi]