Prevalence and risk factors for domestic violence among infertile Egyptian women: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: Domestic violence (DV) is an important social and public health problem affecting women globally. This study aims to assess the prevalence and risk factors of DV among infertile Egyptian women.Patients and methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based study included infertile women attending the outpatient gynaecological clinic in a tertiary University hospital was carried out between September 2017 and October 2018. After obtaining ethical approval, 304 infertile women were enrolled in the study and investigated using an interview questionnaire of Infertile Women’s Exposure to Violence Determination Scale (IWEVDS). The questionnaire was examined for accuracy after translation into the Arabic language.Results: The infertile women's reported DV resulted in an average total score on the IWEVDS of 73 ± 17. The top three domains with the highest scales were DV, punishment and exposure to traditional practices domains with scale 20.84 ± 7.67, 18.25 ± 4.15 and 14.63 ± 3.18 points, respectively. Using Multivariable linear regression analysis, we found that the best-fitting predictors for this scale were the wife's age (p = .001), residency (p = .033), previous intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) (p = .016), divorce threatens (p = .022) and fear from husband (p = .026).Conclusions: Infertile Egyptian women are at an increased risk of DV. The most common forms of DV are psychological violence and verbal abuse.