Objective: This paper aims to determine the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of 3rd year medical students towards violence against women. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 224 third year medical students of 3 medical schools in Metro Manila using the pre-tested and validated Knowledge, Attitudes & Perceptions Towards Violence Against Women (KAP- VAW) questionnaire for health professionals. Results: Only the more obvious physical signs of injury were associated with the more readily identifiable forms of abuse- physical and sexual- while subjective somatic complaints, mental and psychological signs and symptoms were less likely associated with VAW. Verbal and economic abuse were hardly known forms of abuse. The more commonly perceived reason for a woman to remain in an abusive relationship was due to her emotional dependence, while a variety of negative characteristics were enumerated to explain the abusive husbands behavior- egotism, sadism, insecurity and jealousy. Despite the fact that almost all the students (99.2 percent) expressed a positive attitude towards the abused woman, only 24.8 percent felt they were ready to actually handle such cases. Conclusion: Although medical students were aware of the impact of violence against women and seemed eager to learn more while in medical school, there was some hesitancy in actually managing such cases as they felt they didnt know enough, thus it is highly recommended that the medical curriculum include training modules on wife abuse.
Human ; Male ; Female ; VIOLENCE ; SPOUSE ABUSE ; PERCEPTION ; ATTITUDE ; STUDENTS, MEDICAL

Female ; Humans ; Male ; Men's Health ; Mental Health ; Spouse Abuse ; prevention & control ; Spouses ; psychology ; Women's Health

No abstract available.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Autistic Disorder ; Autism Spectrum Disorder ; Mental Health ; Spouse Abuse ; Learning Disorders

PURPOSE: This study investigated knowledge and attitude of home visitors in public health centers toward wife abuse and the actual status of how they were detecting wife abuse and providing interventions. METHOD: Data were collected using questionnaires from October 2003 to December 2004. The subjects were 403 home visitors at Public Health Centers around Korea. The data were analyzed using SPSS program. RESULTS: The correction rate of knowledge related to wife abuse was 51.9%. The mean score of attitude toward wife abuse was 3.09 (SD=.40) out of 4, showing that their attitude is right. There was a significant difference in attitude according to age (F=3.27, p=.008). One hundred twenty six visitors (31.3%) detected wife abuses and each visitor confirmed 2.3 cases on the average. Forty eight respondents (38.1%) answered that they had provided interventions. CONCLUSION: This result implies that health visitors have difficulties in detecting wife abuse, and even for identified cases, the rate of providing interventions was low. It was because health visitors' educational experience in wife abuse is insufficient and they do not regard this work as their duty. These findings suggest the necessity for developing nursing in-service programs teaching health visitors their duties and knowledge related to wife abuse.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; House Calls ; Humans ; Korea ; Nurses, Community Health ; Nursing ; Public Health* ; Spouse Abuse* ; Spouses

BACKGROUND: The primary physician may be the first or the only professional who may come in contact with victims of spouse abuse. But little is known about family physician's knowledge of and attitude towards spouse abuse in Korea. Therefore, this study was conducted. METHODS: We selected 191 doctors from the participants of the 2003 annual meeting of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine (KAFM). We distributed a 5 paged questionnaire them to fillout and analyzed 125 cases among them. The questionnaire included social demographic characteristics, individual knowledge of and attitudes toword spouse abuse, individual practice experience, education and training experience, and others. RESULTS: We found a significant relationship between doctor's knowledge of spouse abuse and intervention after coming in contact with the victim. Also, this study showed that 31.8% of doctors intervened and traced the spouse abuse cases actively after physical treatment of victims, but none of the cases were reported to the police. Among the total 64.7% of the doctors explained that they did not want to intervene because they were afraid of getting involved in a legal situation. Some of the doctors who had prior educational experience concerning spouse abuse showed very significant high rate of actual intervention (P=0.0112). CONCLUSION: The more educational experience on spouse violence the doctors had, the more active intervention they showed. Therefore, we need to intensify the practical educational program along with the training medical program targeting medical practitioners. Of course we need to reguest sacrifice from doctors based on moral principles, but we also need systemic aid and reform to legal system to minimize burden to doctors.
Domestic Violence ; Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Police ; Spouse Abuse* ; Spouses ; Violence ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUNDSome researchers found that partner-perpetrated physical violence increased in frequency and severity during the postpartum period compared with the antenatal period, however, limited data exists describing abuse of women in China. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of abuse in China before, during, and after pregnancy, and explore possible factors related to abuse.

METHODSA community-based face-to-face survey of a representative group of women who had a child aged 6 to 18 months in 32 communities of Tianjin, Liaoning, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces was carried out between November 1, 2001 and February 28, 2002.

RESULTSThe prevalence of domestic abuse (emotional, sexual, or physical) occurring in any period (before, during, or after pregnancy) was 12.6%. The prevalence of abuse during the approximate 9 months of pregnancy (4.3%) was relatively lower compared with the prevalence of abuse during the 12 months before pregnancy (9.1%) and after delivery (8.3%) during the mean 11-month postpartum period studied. Abuse before pregnancy was a strong risk factor for abuse during pregnancy and abuse after pregnancy, and abuse during any previous period was a strong risk factor for subsequent abuse. Many women who suffered abuse of any kind generally experienced multiple acts over time and most acts were not severe. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the factors associated with abuse during pregnancy included women previously witnessing domestic violence, a poor relationship with the partner, socioeconomic level, alcohol consumption, and smoking.

CONCLUSIONSIt is necessary to do in-depth training and to raise awareness of partner abuse among all health professionals. Routine screening of abuse in maternity clinics is advocated to decrease the adverse impact of abuse on women and fetuses.

China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Postpartum Period ; Pregnancy ; Prevalence ; Spouse Abuse ; statistics & numerical data

While the system of offering dowry to the groom by the parents of the bride at the time of the marriage is an age old one amongst the Hindus of India; during the recent past this evil custom has resulted in a large number of newly wed young housewives being either killed or tortured to end their own lives by their husbands and in-laws, for the unfulfilled demands or desire for dowry from the parents or guardians of the bride. Indeed in India today, torture of the young housewives by their husbands and in-laws for failure to bring insufficient dowry has become the order of the day all over the country. Some of them are burnt to death and others choose to die by fire; while still others are put to death by some means other than fire and disposed of by burning in order to hide the heinous offence. Hardly a day passes in the life of a forensic pathologist working in one of the states of Northern India, when he is not called upon to do an autopsy on the dead body of a burnt housewife who almost invariably is a married Hindu woman in the prime of her youth, between 15-30 years of age.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Autopsy ; Burns ; pathology ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; methods ; Homicide ; Humans ; India ; Spouse Abuse ; legislation & jurisprudence

BACKGROUND: Violence against women in families is the most common form of violence against them. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of domestic violence and its effects on married women of Ilam. METHODS: In this descriptive-sectional research, 334 married women referred to medical health centers in Ilam were selected to participate using a random sampling method. After obtaining their consent to participate in the study, participants responded to a 46 items questionnaire and responses were analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows ver. 20.0 (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS: The majority of the participants reported experiencing domestic violence and emotional violence was more prevalent than other kinds of violence. Logistic regression analysis showed that lower education level, marriage at a younger age, shorter duration of marriage, fewer children, being a housewife, and husband's unemployment had a significant relationship with domestic violence against women. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of wife abuse in Ilam especially emotional violence due to lower education levels and marriage at younger age could be a serious threat for women's health as well as for other members of the family. This could be a grounding factor for other social harms such as suicide and this issue must be studied from legal, religious, and cultural standpoints.
Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies* ; Domestic Violence* ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Marriage ; Methods ; Physical Abuse ; Prevalence* ; Risk Factors* ; Spouse Abuse ; Suicide ; Unemployment ; Violence ; Women's Health

OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) in Hunan.

METHODSUsing a multi-stage sampling strategy, 9451 households involving 32 720 persons in urban, rural and industrial areas in Hunan, China were studied. Multiform clue investigation and face-to-face interviews were combined to investigate the prevalence of DV.

RESULTSA lifetime prevalence of DV was reported by 1533 households (16.2%). A total of 1098 households (11.6%) reported at least one incident of DV in the previous year. Both lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DV varied significantly by geographic setting (P < 0.01). The lifetime prevalence abuse rates were: spousal 10.2%, child abuse 7.8%, and elder 1.5%. With regard to household structure, the lifetime prevalence of DV was highest among those remarried families (21.0%), followed by married couples with one child and extended families with several generations living together (20.1% and 20.0%, respectively). The highest rate of spousal abuse was found among remarried families (14.7%), while child and elder abuse was most prevalent among extended families (12.4% and 4.1%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONSThe findings suggested that although the prevalence of DV in Hunan was modest compared to Western countries, it remained a serious public health problem affecting over 1 in 10 households. Furthermore, the prevalence of various types of DV varied by geographic setting and family structure, suggesting that diverse geographic setting and family constellations carried different risk and protective features.

Aged ; Child ; Child Abuse ; statistics & numerical data ; China ; epidemiology ; Elder Abuse ; statistics & numerical data ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Family ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Marriage ; statistics & numerical data ; Only Child ; Prevalence ; Spouse Abuse ; statistics & numerical data

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem and human rights concern that has an enormous impact on physical, mental, reproductive and socioeconomic aspects of health. Several health professional organizations recommend screening for violence though current screening rates tend to be low because healthcare providers are generally hesitant to be involved in dealing with women who are victims of violence.

OBJECTIVE: This study therefore attempted to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of obstetricians and gynecologists on screening for intimate partner violence in a private tertiary hospital.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey (PREMIS) tool was utilized among 123 obstetricians and gynecologists in a private tertiary hospital in Pasig, Metro Manila, with a response rate of 65.8% (81/123).

RESULTS: Results showed that the sample participants did not have adequate knowledge on IPV; majority of the sample participants were not fully prepared and equipped to handle patients who are victims of IPV; and the sample participants did not routinely screen for IPV.

CONCLUSION: In the Philippines, the obstetricians and gynecologists generally act as the primary care physicians to the general female population. This provides them a good opportunity to be involved in the secondary prevention of IPV. Recognition of barriers to screening for IPV, development of strategies for increasing awareness to IPV, and education and training of physicians and allied health care professionals may improve the screening practices for IPV. These in turn will help them to provide appropriate, effective, and holistic care to their patients who are victims of violence. 

Human ; Physicians, Primary Care ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Spouse Abuse ; Public Health ; Secondary Prevention ; Philippines ; Violence ; Intimate Partner Violence ; Attitude ; Human Rights