Factors influencing intimate partner violence amongst ever married women : a case of Kigezi region in Uganda
Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is known as the domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner. It takes many forms that is physical, emotional and sexual or sexual abuse. However, as for this study SPV will be used as a synonym for IPV. among Uganda’s women who were ever married, it has resulted into negatively adverse effects toward women, ranging from physical injuries, sexual assaults, reproductive problems, depression and mental health problems. The study used secondary data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey dataset. A sample of a sample of 1,483 women who were ever married aged between 15-49 was used. Data was analyzed using STATA a statistical package software to come up with frequencies and percentage tables, establishment of relationship tested using Chi square and Odds ratios. The study results show that of all the 1,483 respondents, 35.1 percent experienced Spousal physical violence (SPV). At bivariate level analysis, only use of alcohol (P-value=0.029) and education (P-value=0.009) were significant. At multivariate logistic regression level of analysis, only those with higher education levels had less odd (OR, 0.2894) of experiencing Spousal physical violence (SPV). For the hypothesis, both that alcohol use is the leading contributor to SPV and ever-married women with higher education levels are less likely to experience SPV were not rejected because they held true, however, ever-married women with rich wealthy status are less likely to experience SPV were null. The study recommends that there should be engineered programs that ensure that more people especially those in rural areas are educated. Also, the government should enact strict laws and policies should be put in place to combat and restrain all perpetrators of SPV to help combat the deadly vice.