Spousal violence against women in Tunisia: determining factors

Chermiti.A-Frikha.H-Aloui.H-Karoui.A-Binous.M-Bouhmida.R-Hammami.R-Chennoufi.M.B-Abouda.S.H

Maternity and Neonatology center of Tunis

Objective: to determine the main factors of spousal violence in a Tunisian population

Design: a retrospective descriptive study

Methods: our study was proceeded during 8 months in 2022. A 15 questions survey was administered to spousal violence victims hospitalized in our department. All these patients signed an informed consent before being included in our study

Results: we included 17 victims of spousal violence. the average age was 31 years old. five patients were housewives. the violence occurred at home in 86% of cases. Thirteen patients (78%) revealed that it was not the first episode and nine of them didn’t filed a complaint in police station. On physical examination we noticed multiple injuries in 83% of cases. The face was the most affected part of body (64%) and the average of Total incapacity for work was estimated about 4.3 days. According to the partner characteristics, alcohol abuse was noticed in 58%, psychotropic substances consumption in 24% and drugs in 11% of cases . Sixty four per cent of the aggressors had professional activity with 27% being in a high post while 11% were unemployed. The violence against women was physical in 87%, sexual in 8% and psychological in 5% of cases

Discussion : According to the WHO, more than a quarter of women aged 15 to 49 who have been in a relationship have experienced physical or sexual violence from their partner at least once in their lives. Estimates of the prevalence of intimate partner violence range from 22% in high-income countries and Europe to 25% in the Americas, 33% in the African region, and 33% in the Southeast Asian region (1). The National Survey on Violence Against Women in France (Enveff)revealed that 10% of women have experienced violence, 2.5% have experienced physical assaults, and 0.9% have experienced forced sexual acts. The frequency is consistent across different socio-professional categories . the alcoholism is the first risk factor found in many studies (2,3) In the United States, Jones (3) states that a woman becomes a victim of domestic violence every 12 seconds

Conclusion: The findings provide compelling evidence of the potential risk factors for spousal violence, which in turn could help in planning interventions

References : 1-Violence againstwomenPrevalenceEstimates, 2018. Global, regionaland national prevalenceestimatesfor intimatepartnerviolence againstwomenand global and regionalprevalenceestimatesfor non-partnersexualviolence againstwomen. OMS, Genève, 2021 (en anglais). 2-EnveffJaspardM, Brown E, Condon S et coll.Les violences envers les femmes en France. Une enquête nationale. La Documentation française, Paris, 2003. 3-Jones RF. Domestic violence: let our voices be heard.ObstetGynecol1993; 81: 1-4. 4-YSTEMATIC REVIEW articleFront. Psychol., 04 September 2018 Sec. Gender, Sex and Sexualities Volume 9 - 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01595