ABSTRACT

To estimate the risk factors associated with intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Northern Cyprus.

This cross-sectional study was performed between February 2015 and April 2015. An approval from the ethics committee was obtained prior to the study. A self-structured face-to-face survey was conducted among pregnant women who were admitted to the Obstetrics Department of the university hospital. The first part of the survey was related to the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and their partners. The second part comprised questions about the relationship type of the respondents and obstetric characteristics. The third part consisted of set of 5 groups and each group included questions specific to the type of the related violent behavior.

The questionnaire was offered to 231 pregnant women, and 219 of them agreed to participate, resulting in a response rate of 94.8%. The prevalence of overall violence before the pregnancy was 75.3%, and it decreased to 68% during pregnancy, which was statistically significant (p<0.001). The overall violence during pregnancy was significantly associated with multiparity, unplanned pregnancy and marriage type.

Although decreasing, violence against women continues during pregnancy.