Journal of School of Public Health and

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Background and Aim: Domestic violence against women is a major health problem, as well as a violation of human rights. It adversely affects the physical, mental, and social well being of women, families and communities. This phenomenon exists in all countries around the world. Although its prevalence, strength, types, effects, and risk factors are different, it is not limited to any geographical zone or distinct social class. This article presents the views of Tehrani couples and experts on underlying factors causing domestic violence against women in Iran and action to be taken for prevention.
Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was carried out through eight FGD meetings, in 2 days, with the participation of 50 couples. The couples were divided into 8 groups based on sex, education, and history of violence. Results of the FDGs were categorized and analyzed. Data were discussed in group meetings of 50 experts in different fields, such as health, medicine, law, education, and Islamic studies, from academic, policy making, governmental executive, and women's affairs organizations, divided into three groups of community general education and information dissemination, health system, and judiciary system. Results were discussed and finalized in a general meeting.
Results: The couples and experts identified underlying factors in 4 categories socio-cultural, economic, legal, and medical. Actions to be taken for prevention and control were believed to be educational, legal, and supporting services.
Conclusion: On the basis of the findings of this study, it was suggested that strategies/actions/services to solve the problem and reduce harm should include providing appropriate information and education for couples and the community emphasizing the health system responsibility empowering physicians and other health personnel to help women who are victims or susceptible to domestic violence legal transparency and reforms meeting legal needs law reinforcement and implementation providing safe shelters for victims and establishment of a national center for research and planning on violence.

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Background and Aim: A person is more likely to become a violence victim in his/her family than outside the family. The purpose of this study was to investigate domestic violence, especially violence against women, in families in Herat Province, Afghanistan.         

Materials and Methods: A total of 130 female victims referring to support centers in Herat, Afganistan were selected using the accessible sampling method. A researcher-developed questionnaire was used to collect data.

Results: No woman older than 40 years referred to the centers, and the age of 65.4% of those referring was below 30 years.  The proportions of the women suffering from psychological, physical-plus-sexual and economic violence were 42%, 29% and 26%, respectively.  In addition, 65.4% of them had been married for at most 5 years and only 10% had been married for over 10 years. Further analysis of the data showed that about 60% of the clients were illiterate and only 13.8% had a bachelor's degree; 72.3% of the victims were housewives and only about 21% had freelance or office jobs; more than 70.2% of the victims were at the lowest income level, and about 76.6% had married with their own accord. As regards the victims' spouses, 88.5% were under 40 years of age, 57.7% were illiterate and 29.2% were high school graduates.  In terms of occupation, they were typically non-employed and had private jobs (13.8% workers, 22.3% farmers and 40.8% freelance). Furthermore, 95.4% had been married for the first time and 97.7% had one spouse. Finally, 83% of them (83.8%) were not addicts.

Conclusion: The most frequent complaints were related to psychological violence. Clients were typically under 40 years of age with a marriage history of less than 5 years. A typical victim in this study was a young illiterate woman who was financially weak; had a young, self-employed, low-educated spouse who had been married for the first time; had no other spouse; and was not a drug addict. 

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Background and Aim: Domestic violence is one of the most important cases of hidden victimization influenced by different factors. This research aimed to investigate the effect of Corona as a medical crisis on the level of domestic violence.
Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive research of the correlation type conducted on the statistical population of women in Mashhad City, the sample being 250 women in the outskirts of the city selected using the convenience sampling method. A researcher-developed questionnaire was used to get information related to the behavior of the husband when faced with different types of violence during a period of two years ─ one year before, and one year after, the corona virus outbreak. The Pearson's correlation coefficient method was used to find the semantic relationship of the variables.                                                                Results: The incidence of domestic violence has increased in the first year after the coronavirus outbreak. The highest and lowest shares of such violence were found to be related to emotional and verbal violence and sexual violence, respectively. The findings also showed a highly significant relationship between income and the increase in violence during the Corona era (P<0.01) but no statistically significant relationship between access to support services and increased violence. Finally, restricting access to gatherings was found to be the most important factor in increasing violence.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, it seems that policies related to imposing communication restrictions, home quarantine and the economic damage caused by them can be the main factors causing increased domestic violence due to coronavirus.
 

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Background and Aim: Domestic violence against women as a social characteristic can affect women's reproductive behaviors. The present study investigated the relationship between domestic violence against women and their childbearing intention.
Materials and Methods: This study was a survey conducted using a questionnaire in 2022. The statistical population was married women aged 15-49 years living in Sadra city, Iran, out of whom a sample of 379 was selected by the multi-stage cluster technic. Domestic violence against women was measured using a form with 26 items with a Likert scale, the domestic violence score being obtained by the sum of scores of the items. The SPSS software version 20 was used to analyze the data, the statistical tests being descriptive statistics and two-dimensional logistic regression.
Results: The most common types of domestic violence against women were found to be, in descending order, psychological, physical, economic and sexual violence. The duration of marriage and education of women had a statistically significant effect on their childbearing intention. Increasing domestic violence against women was found to reduce their childbearing intention.
Conclusion: Reducing domestic violence can increase the women’s intention to have children. Therefore, reducing domestic violence against women should be on the policy agenda of the relevant decision makers.