Domestic violence patterns and its consequences among married women in rural Mangalore

Background: One in three women experience domestic violence with global prevalence ranging from 10-69%. It has significant public health consequence and due to sensitivity of the problem women may not report. Aims & objectives: To determine the pattern of domestic violence among women and its association with age, age at marriage, decision making power, economic and educational status of both partners and to determine the legal and health consequences of it. Material & Methods: Observational cross-sectional study was conducted among 199 rural married women. Women who can read and write Kannada were included using convenient sampling. Pre-validated, structured and self-administered questionnaire was used. Chi-square test was done for significance. Results: Emotional violence reported to be 83.1%, physical violence 53.8% and sexual violence 21.1%. Domestic violence had significant association with decision maker, age of both the partners and income of both the partners. 63.8% suffered from depression and 58.8% visited doctor 4-6 times in the last year in relation to domestic violence. Conclusion: The prevalence of domestic violence recorded was high and depression was the serious health consequence. Moral support should be given, and necessary measures should be taken to empower them