Causes, Forms, Outcome and Perception of Gender Based Violence Among Men at Kenyatta National Hospital From January 2017 to March 2022. A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

Background: Gender based violence (GBV) is a violation of human rights affecting both women and men with varying magnitude, and harmful acts directed towards ones gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, abuse of power and harmful norms. It is a worldwide concern but affects African countries due to harmful cultural norms. Globally it affects 1 in 3 girls/women and 1 in 5 boys/men. 8 In Africa and in Kenya it affects 30-40% of girls/women and there is paucity of data available for boys/men. Broad objective: To determine the causes, forms outcome and perception of gender based violence among men at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Methodology: This was a mixed method study. It was conducted at the GBV clinic of the Kenyatta National Hospital among patients seeking treatment for GBV from the period of January 2017 to March 2022. Semi-structured questionnaires and key informant interviews were used to collect data for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Quantitative data was entered into a Microsoft Excel 2017 Spreadsheet, and later transferred to Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23.0 for analysis. Data was presented as frequencies and proportions for categorical data and as means with standard deviation for continuous data. Qualitative data was collected by use of Key informant in-depth interviews. Data was then categorized into emergent themes. Results: Majority of the male victims were aged between 18 to 39 years (41.1%), economic factors (59.6%) were majorly the cause of GBV. Sexual violence (84.5%) had the most number of victims. Chronic/Physical (28.0%) topped the highest form of outcome as a result of GBV. Conclusion: Economic factors and dysfunctional relations topped as major causes of GBV cases, and sexual violence had the highest number of victims. Alcohol and drugs could be the reason the results of the Chronic/Physical outcome being the highest of which they have a relationship with sexual violence.