Spouse Abuse in Sari-Iran

Objective: Spouse abuse is a major worldwide health concern and includes a wide range of emotional, physical and sexual maltreatments. The objective of present study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of spouse abuse among women who were registered with health centers in the city of Sari

Methods: We distributed two specifically designed questionnaires among one thousand women whose name was in the list of health centers register in Sari. The subjects had been randomly selected from a list of 49330 registered women. Demographic data and data on spouse abuse were then analyzed by using Student’s unpaired t-test and Chi- square test.

Results: Including mild forms of abuse, 73.5%, 92.2% and 49.6% of women reported that they were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse respectively at least once during their lives. This figure was 3%, 10.4% and 5.8% for moderate forms, and 0.5%, 1% and 2.2% for severe forms of abuse. Younger age, unemployment, low level of education, substance misuse, presence of a physical or a psychological problem and having more children were risk factors for domestic violence.

Conclusion: The study revealed a high prevalence, especially mild forms of domestic maltreatment in the sample population. The type and risk factors of domestic violence seems to be similar throughout the world irrespective of differences in cultural and religious backgrounds. Authors believe that addressing unemployment, substance misuse problems and early treatment of mental illness in young couples in Iran will reduce the risk of domestic violence.