Study of domestic violence in pregnant women and its related causes in Sanandaj health clinics in 2015-2016

Introduction and Aim: Domestic violence is a general and universal problem that destroys the body of the family and society. It threatens the mental, physical, and emotional health of individuals. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the prevalence of domestic violence in pregnant women and its relationship with personal characteristics of women and their spouses at health centers in Sanandaj city in 2015-2016. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study was conducted in 2015-2016 and 375 women who referred to health centers of Sanandaj for the first time after delivery were selected based on their purpose. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire completed by interview. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and Chi-square test. P value less than 0.01 was statistically significant. Results: The results showed that more than 50% of women undergone domestic violence during pregnancy. 73.4% of the women in the study underwent psychological violence, 12.2% of them physical violence, 11.2% economic violence and 2.3% of them were victims of sexual violence. Also, there was a significant relationship between domestic violence and education level (P = 0.05), number of children (p = 0.05), number of married years (p = 0.01). Moreover, there was a relationship between level of education and career of spouses (p = 0.001) p) with domestic violence. Conclusion: The results showed that violence is more likely to occur in lower social classes and low literacy level of society