Case reports and long commentaries in obstetrics and gynaecology

Abstract

Objective of the study: To determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence among women presenting with abortion at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Study design: This was a descriptive cross sectional survey Methodology: Between January 2008 and April 2008, three hundred and eighty eight women presenting with abortion at the casualty were recruited into the study. The clients were interviewed in a private room and their responses filled into a structured questionnaire. The results were entered into the SPSS database and then analyzed. The results: Of the 388 women interviewed, 207 (53.4%) experienced at least one form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime. One hundred and forty nine (38.4%) experienced emotional violence, 130 (33.5%) physical violence and 79(20.4%) sexual violence. In the last one year, 157 (40.5%) experienced at least one form of violence and 106 (27.3%) had violence in this pregnancy. Older women who had had multiple sexual partners, had a partner who disapproved of this pregnancy and those that had a partner who had stopped them from using contraceptives were at higher risk of intimate partner violence. Forty one percent of pregnancies were not planned for and the unmet contraceptive need was 69.8%. Overall ever use of contraceptive proportion was 58.2%. Being multi-parous was associated with increased contraception use (p-value <0.001). Conclusion. The prevalence of intimate partner violence is high among abortion patients but is comparable to prevalence found in other studies on prevalence of intimate partner violence.