Intimate partner violence: psychological and verbal abuse during pregnancy

AIM: To examine the association between sociodemographic, pregnancy related variables and psychological and verbal intimate partner abuse (PIPA), as well as determine which of these variables, are predictors of PIPA during pregnancy. BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence is a significant health issue, with severe implications to both mother and foetus. However, much of the research to date focuses on the outcomes of physical abuse. This article addresses the dearth in literature by examining the association between sociodemographic, pregnancy related variables and PIPA during pregnancy. DESIGN: A survey research design was used. METHOD: Three hundred postnatal women were recruited by convenience, non-proportional quota sampling technique. The WHO Violence Against Women Instrument was self-administered by participants. Association between categorical variables was assessed using Pearson's Chi-square, strength of association using Cramer's V and the phi coefficient, and identification of predictor variables for psychological and verbal abuse using Logistic regression. RESULTS: Four predictors were identified for psychological abuse namely i.e., low education level in women, an unplanned pregnancy, experiencing two or more pregnancy related health problems and living with an unemployed partner. Whilst unemployment in women, an unplanned pregnancy, fear of partner, and a low education level of partner, were identified as predictors of verbal abuse. CONCLUSION: This study identified a number of variables which strongly predict PIPA during pregnancy; however, it extends the available literature by identifying a low standard of education in males, unemployment and fear of the intimate partner as significant predictors of PIPA.