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Intimate partner violence among prenatal care attendees amidst the COVID‐19 crisis: The incidence in Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Teshome Abel,
Gudu Wondimu,
Bekele Delayehu,
Asfaw Mariamawit,
Enyew Ruhama,
Compton Sarah D.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1002/ijgo.13566
Subject(s) - medicine , domestic violence , pregnancy , incidence (geometry) , odds ratio , demography , prenatal care , sexual violence , poison control , confidence interval , obstetrics , psychiatry , injury prevention , environmental health , population , nursing , physics , biology , sociology , optics , genetics
Objective To assess the incidence and predictors of intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Methods This cross‐sectional study was conducted at the prenatal care clinic of St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, among pregnant women from 31 August to 2 November 2020. Participants were interviewed using Open Data Kit. Logistic regression was used to assess predictors. Results Among the 464 pregnant women, 33 (7.1%) reported IPV during pregnancy, and among these 24 (72.7%) reported emotional violence, 16 (48.5%) reported sexual violence, and 10 (30.3%) reported physical violence. Among the study participants, only 8 (1.7%) were screened for IPV. IPV was reported 3.27 times more often by women who reported that their partner chewed Khat compared with those women whose partner did not (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.27; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45–7.38), and 1.52 times more often women who reported that their partner drank alcohol compared with those women whose partner did not (aOR 1.52; 95% CI 1.01–2.28). Conclusion Very few women were screened for IPV. Partners drinking alcohol and chewing Khat are significantly positively associated with IPV during pregnancy. IPV screening should be included in the national management protocol of obstetric cases of Ethiopia.