WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Hajir H. Al-Ridhwany* and Asma A. Aljawadi

ABSTRACT

Background: Intimate-partner physical violence is the intentional use of physical force by husbands with potential to cause death, disability, injury or harm to their wives. It usually results in considerable health consequences for both abused women as well as children. Aim: The study's aim is to estimate the prevalence of intimate-partner physical violence against wives in Mosul and determine the associated factors. Methods: The current study adopted a health-institutional cross-sectional study design and a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. The study had interviewed 1302 wives in child-bearing age during their attendance to 20 primary health care centers distributed in Mosul District over approximately ten months duration. They were inquired about their current exposure to physical abuse by their husbands. Chi- square test was applied to test the significance of association between prevalence of intimate-partner physical violence and the studied socio-demographic variables. Estimation of such association was appraised by calculation of odds ratio. Results: The prevalence of physical intimate-partner violence in Mosul was 241 per 1000 wives. It was higher in peri-urban and rural localities (28.1%) than urban families (P=0.001). It was significantly affected with some socio-demographic characters of wives and husbands as well as their marriages' constituents. Conclusions: Almost one every four women in Mosul was a victim of abusive behavior of her husband. However, comparing the estimated prevalence among different countries was difficult because of varying definitions of the term, cultural taboos and the normalization of violence in many areas, all leading to lack of reliable data.