Violence against Women - An Emerging Health Issue in North East India.

ABSTRACT

Background: Violence against women is an extensively recognised public health problem but grossly underreported. The study plans to assess the magnitude as well as factors associated with domestic violence among ever married women. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among ever married women attending a tertiary care health centre using a semi structured questionnaire adapted from the WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Life Experiences. Descriptive statistics along with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed to see for associations. A P- value of <0.05 was taken as significant. Results: The mean (SD) age of the respondents was 32.0±7.9 year. More than half of the respondents 278(53.6%) have faced some form of violence during their marital life. Verbal form of violence 218(78.4%) was the commonest followed by physical violence 134(48.2%). The risk of ever having faced violence was significantly associated with increasing number of children, husband being a smoker and husband being an alcohol user (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of violence was relatively high as equated to other evidence from across the country. A primary prevention activity by raising public awareness and changing the gender-related attitudes towards women at a societal as well individual level is needed.