CHARACTERISTICS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMAN IN A GROUP OF RESIDENTS WOMEN IN CARTAGENA DE INDIAS-COLOMBIA

Introduction: domestic violence is a significant problem in public health which does not distinguish between age, socioeconomic status, education level, political ideology, ethnicity or nationality. Objective: to determine the point prevalence of violence against women in a group of residents women in Cartagena de Indias-Colombia. Methods: a descriptive study was carried out in 660 women who were the reference in a group of 173.439 woman between 21 and 50 years old who live in urban areas in Cartagena de Indias-Colombia. The population was checked with social inclusion criteria, was applied with a random cluster sampling in 137 neighborhoods with two components: 15 questions about sociodemographic information and a questionnaire about violence against woman taken from Encuesta Nacional de Demografía y Salud (ENDS-2005) which has 30 questions Results: between 660 woman 71.2% (470) of them were victims of violence against woman. Among them the average of age was 34.2 years old. The 58.3% were housewives and 75.7% lived in poor social strata, the 85.6% had experienced physical violence and the 17.7% sexual violence, where main aggressor was the companion. Most of the cases occurred in private space, the 12.3% of the victims never reported. Conclusions: in the residents women group evaluated in Cartagena de Indias-Colombia the violence against woman was highly prevalent, higher than the national average with notorious predominance of physical violence.Rev.cienc.biomed. 2015; 6(2): 272-281. KEY WORDS Introduction: domestic violence is a significant problem in public health which does not distinguish between age, socioeconomic status, education level, political ideology, ethnicity or nationality. Objective: to determine the point prevalence of violence against women in a group of residents women in Cartagena de Indias-Colombia. Methods: a descriptive study was carried out in 660 women who were the reference in a group of 173.439 woman between 21 and 50 years old who live in urban areas in Cartagena de Indias-Colombia. The population was checked with social inclusion criteria, was applied with a random cluster sampling in 137 neighborhoods with two components: 15 questions about sociodemographic information and a questionnaire about violence against woman taken from Encuesta Nacional de Demografía y Salud (ENDS-2005) which has 30 questions Results: between 660 woman 71.2% (470) of them were victims of violence against woman. Among them the average of age was 34.2 years old. The 58.3% were housewives and 75.7% lived in poor social strata, the 85.6% had experienced physical violence and the 17.7% sexual violence, where main aggressor was the companion. Most of the cases occurred in private space, the 12.3% of the victims never reported. Conclusions: in the residents women group evaluated in Cartagena de Indias-Colombia the violence against woman was highly prevalent, higher than the national average with notorious predominance of physical violence.Rev.cienc.biomed. 2015; 6(2): 272-281. KEY WORDS Violence against women; Wounds and injuries; Culture aspects; Family relationships; Social suppor