DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MARRIED WOMEN IN RURAL DELHI: A CLINIC BASED CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY ON PREVALENCE AND RELATED ISSUES

Background: Domestic violence shows characteristic features and patterns depending on the local context and has been recognized as an important public health problem. It affects health of the person, however, data on domestic violence among rural women attending outpatient department is not available.

Objectives: 1) Find out the prevalence and related issues of domestic violence among rural married women; and 2) Assess the behavior of victims regarding domestic violence

Materials and Methods: Clinic based cross-sectional study carried out at rural health center attached to Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi for four month. Systematic random sampling technique was used for the selection of the subjects and a pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analysed using SPSS 16 version and presented in simple averages and proportions. For detecting difference, chi-square test was used and accepted statistically significance when p value was less than 0.05.

Results: Out of 171 married women surveyed, 43.9% reported some kind of violence by their family members. Husbands were the main perpetrators of violence (62.73%). Slapping was the most common (93.6%) form of physical violence found among the rural women. It was found that husbands (64.3%) control their wives. One fifth (22.2%) of the women were aware about domestic violence law.

Conclusion: Domestic violence is widely prevalent in the rural community and women suffered a lot despite of various initiatives taken by Government to curb the problem of violence and empowerment of women.