Domestic Violence Prevalence From Pregnancy to Age 2 in the Bangalore Child Health And Development Study

• In Event: Developmental Research on Maltreatment and Violence

Abstract

Objectives: Rates of domestic violence are high in India. Yet to our knowledge no longitudinal investigations have been conducted in India to examine prevalence repeatedly across the perinatal period and beyond to establish the scale of the problem despite the adverse health implications for mother and child. We aimed to assess longitudinal patterns of Domestic Violence among women during pregnancy and the first 2 years of life in urban Bangalore to inform policy and practice.
Methods: 909 women recruited to the Bangalore Child Health and Development Study (BCHADS), were interviewed twice during pregnancy and at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after childbirth. Domestic violence was assessed using the culturally sensitive Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) interview developed by the ICMR Taskforce (Babu et al 2009).
Results:
Women were mean 23 years (SD 3.5) at recruitment in early pregnancy. 100% were married. 56.1% women lived in a joint or extended families (versus nuclear). 53.8% were multipara.

38.4% (349/908) women reported at least one form of pregnancy or postnatal violence. In trimester 1 or early trimester 2 psychological violence was reported by 15.1% (136/902), physical by 6.3% (57/902) and sexual violence by 1.2% (11/902) of women. Rates decreased by trimester 3 (psychological 8.5%; physical 2.6%; sexual 0.4%), but escalated to 33.9%, 14.7%, and 4.7% respectively during the first two years after childbirth.
One third of mothers reported multiple forms of concurrent abuse at each time period. Antenatal psychological and physical violence each strongly predicted ongoing postnatal abuse (Psychological, OR 4.8 (95%CI 3.3-7.1), p < .001); Physical, OR 5.4 (95%CI 3.1-9.5), p < .001). In each case though there were also a substantial number of new onset cases after birth.

Women living in joint/extended families (vs nuclear) experienced significantly higher levels of psychological violence during late pregnancy and after childbirth. Rates of physical violence did not differ significantly by family type indicating that living with others did not protect women. 88% of physical violence in pregnancy was perpetrated by husbands, 5.8% by other family members and 5.8% by both. Similar patterns were observed in the postnatal period. In contrast, a high proportion of psychological violence was perpetrated by other family members alongside husbands or alone.
Conclusions: The high prevalence of violence in pregnancy and marked escalation after childbirth in this longitudinal urban cohort emphasises the need for repeated sensitive enquiry and the need for support services to be accessible for women experiencing domestic violence in India.

Authors

• Nicola Wright
  Presenting Author

• Prabha Chandra, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences

• TA Supraja, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences

• Laura Bozicevic, University of Liverpool

• Helen Sharp, University of Liverpool

• Jonathan Hill, University of Reading