A study of the nature and causes of domestic violence among the attendees of a domestic violence counseling center of a tertiary level hospital of a city of central India

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Background: Domestic violence against women is widely recognized as important public health problem, owing to its substantial consequences for women’s physical, mental and reproductive health. This study tried to assess the frequency and patterns of domestic violence against women experienced by attendees of Domestic Violence counselling centre Department of Psychiatry, MY Hospital, Indore. Aims & Objective: To study the nature and causes of domestic violence. Material and Methods: Cross sectional study using a pre designed pre tested semi structured questionnaire was carried out and the data were analyzed using MS excel. Results: Most common type of domestic violence faced is physical (80%) followed by mental (8%), social (8%) and sexual (4%). Monetary issues (26%) and alcoholism (22%) are the two most important causes of domestic violence, other causes being extra marital affair (6%), Family conflicts (6%) and dowry (6%). 64% victims were either illiterate or primary pass; 34% were skilled workers; 56% victims had their per capita income between ` 980 and 2935; 76% had their modified Kuppuswami score between 5-10. 56% victims face domestic violence daily. Conclusion: Monetary problems, alcoholism, illiteracy, extramarital affairs and dowry are the major causes of domestic violence. The victims most commonly face physical violence by their partners daily. There is an urgent need of more and more domestic violence counseling centers throughout the country.