Intimate Partner Violence During the First Year After Childbirth in an Urban Area of Iran: Prevalence and its Predictors

Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the first post¬partum year and its predictive factors in an urban area of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 398 women with a healthy infant aged 12 months were examined using revised Conflict Tactics Scale (the CTS2) to determine the prevalence of IPV. The data were collected at the public health centers in Tabriz (from October 2015 to April 2016). The predictors were determined using multivariate binary logistic regression. Results: More than half of the women (58%) reported experience of one or more instances of any form of IPV, namely, psychological, physical, sexual, and/or injury and one-third of them reported physical and/or sexual IPV in the first postpartum year. Reported prevalence of each form of IPV were as follows: psychological aggression (54%), physical assault (21%), sexual coercion (21%), and injury (13%). Predictor factors of overall IPV were: woman aged less than 30 years (adjusted odds ratio 2.0 [95% CI: 1.3 to 3.3]), unplanned pregnancy (1.6 [1.03 to 2.6]), husband disappointment about their baby’s gender [1.9 (1.1 to 3.2)], and inability to fully meet the husband’s sexual expectations (1.6 [1.03 to 2.4]). Conclusions: The IPV during postpartum is very common. Therefore, it is recommended to implement IPV screening programs and effective strategies for IPV prevention in the health care settings for newly delivered women emphasizing on the high risk for the women.