A study of intimate partner violence among females attending a Teaching Hospital out-patient department

• Main Authors: KALA Kuruppuarachchi, LT Wijeratne, GDSSK Weerasinghe, MUPK Peris, SS Williams
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists 2010-12-01
• Series: Sri Lanka Journal of Psychiatry
• Subjects: partner violence
• Online Access: https://sljpsyc.sljol.info/articles/2577

<strong>Background</strong> Intimate partner violence (IPV) is considered a public health problem with physical and psychological consequences. <br /><br /><strong>Aims</strong> To describe the prevalence of IPV among married females attending the out-patient department of North Colombo Teaching Hospital and their attitude towards abuse. <br /><br /><strong>Methods</strong> A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire on physical, verbal, sexual and emotional abuse was given to the first 50 consenting married females attending the out-patient department on each day for five consecutive days. Confidentiality of responses was assured and adequate privacy was provided for the questionnaires to be completed. <br /><br /><strong>Results</strong> Of the 242 participants 98(40.5%) reported some form of abuse by their male partner. Prevalence of abuse reported was physical abuse 19%, verbal abuse 23%, emotional abuse 23% and sexual abuse 7%. A quarter (26.9%) of those inflicted physical violence sought medical treatment for the injuries but only two of them divulged the reason for the injury to medical staff. More than three quarters (79%) of those abused were in the relationship for more than ten years. The majority of the females surveyed believed that violence by the male partner should be tolerated. <br /><br /><strong>Conclusions</strong> IPV is a common problem that is poorly divulged to medical personnel. Attitudes regarding IPV have to be changed in order to reduce abuse significantly. <br /><br />DOI: 10.4038/sljpsyc.v1i2.2577<br /><br />SL J Psychiatry 2010; 1 (2):60-63