Risk Factors of Physical Domestic Violence against Women during Breastfeeding in Tehran, Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background Due to the prevalence of domestic violence and its effect on women's health, especially during breastfeeding, this study was conducted to investigate the factors associated with physical domestic violence during breastfeeding in Iranian women. Materials and Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed through multi-stage sampling on 549 women who had infants up to 6 months of age during breastfeeding, and referred to health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. For data collection demographic, obstetrics, breastfeeding status and WHO physical domestic violence questionnaires were used. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software version 19.0. Results The results showed that the rate of physical violence was 35.7%, and 5.8% of women experienced physical violence more than 5 times during breastfeeding. In logistic regression, husband’s occupation (p <0.014), women’s education (p <0.007), household income (p <0.003), independent income of women (p <0.002), infant gender (p <0.002), husband’s support in breastfeeding (p <0.035), exclusive breastfeeding (p <0.001) were associated with physical domestic violence during breastfeeding. Conclusion Some socioeconomic characteristics such as education, occupation of women and their husband, age of husband, duration of the marriage, infant gender, household income, and the independent income of women were related to physical violence during breastfeeding. It is necessary to identify women exposed to violence to prevent its complications, especially during breastfeeding.