The Impact of Infertility on Sexual Violence in Women Referring to AL-Zahra Infertility Center in Rasht

Background & objectives: Violence against women is a serious threat to health and human rights. It seem that the level of violence in infertile women to be more than other women. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between infertility and sexual violence in infertile women referred to Alzahra hospital in Rasht. Methods: The analytical-cross sectional study was conducted in 400 women (200 infertile women and 200 fertile women) who were referred to Al-Zahra hospital in Rasht, Iran. Samples were selected through convenience sampling from patient referring to clinics of infertility and women. Data were collected by sexual violence questionnaire retrieved from WHO Domestic violence questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square test and logistic regression in SPSS software version 18. Results: Sexual violence was 60% in the case group and 35.5% in the control group, which was significantly higher in the infertile group (p<0.0001). In the logistic model, there was a significant relationship between sexual violence with the duration of marriage, female education, husband's job and infertility (p<0.001). Also there was a significant relationship between husband addiction and sexual violence at the level of p<0.05. Conclusion: The study found that infertile women are suffered from sexual violence more significantly. Given that, factors such as the level of women education and occupation and the addiction of spouse can also be a predisposing factor for violence, it is necessary to include plans for empowering women in field of violence, preventing addiction and raising awareness about sexual violence in the community.