Maternal and Fetal Outcomes Among Pregnant Women Exposed to Violence.

Abstract

Introduction Domestic violence against women is now widely recognized as a public health issue and a major human rights violation on a global scale. It is a significant risk factor for women's health problems. Pregnancy places a woman under significant physical and psychological pressure, even without additional stressors like abuse. This pressure can have a negative impact on both the mother's and the child's health. This study aims to assess the prevalence of violence among pregnant women and to determine the maternal and fetal outcomes among pregnant women exposed to violence. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among 347 postpartum women to assess maternal and fetal outcomes among those who were exposed to violence during their pregnancy. A face-to-face interview was done using one tool with three parts to collect the necessary data. Part one included socio-demographic characteristics and reproductive history for participants, part two included safe and validated dates-physical violence victimization scale, and part three included maternal and fetal outcomes. Result The findings of this study showed that the prevalence of victimization occurred one to three times (28.8%), while 11.5% of victimization occurred four to nine times, and 2.6% of victimization occurred 10 times or more. Many factors play a role in violence, including family income, husband's jobs, husband smoking, being forced into marriage, a higher number of children, and parity. Additionally, it was discovered that adverse pregnancy and fetal outcomes include preterm birth (PTB), early onset of labor, low birth weight (LBW), and neonatal admission to the intensive care unit. Conclusion The result indicates that violence against pregnant women is at a significant rate. Their findings show that there are several factors that may have caused this percentage. Among the factors that contributed to violence in this study were family income, smoking, husbands' work, forced marriage, the number of pregnancies, and the number of children. To reduce violence during pregnancy, it is crucial to empower women, especially those without a source of income of their own. It is also critical to educate partners and foster healthy relationships between partners.