Masood Ali Shaikh, Irshad Ali Shaikh, Anila Kamal, Sobia Masood.
Domestic violence and Pregnancy – perspective from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;18(10):662-3.

A cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling was conducted among the 20 years and older pregnant women who were married for at least one year; approached at the Obstetric and Gynaecology outpatient departments of two public sector hospitals each in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. From July 27th to September 19th, 2006, 702 conveniently selected pregnant ladies were approached. Four hundred and ninety-three agreed to participate and completed the questionnaire with response rate of 70.2%; 209 women declined to participate owing to time constraints and privacy concerns. AAS inquires about and scales the most severe abuse incident during the current pregnancy. Cumulatively, 67 (13.6%) respondents reported being physically abused during the current pregnancy. However, out of those 67 respondents, 32 (47.7%) reported the most severe incident to be the threats of abuse, including use of weapon i.e. a nonphysical abuse, 21 (31.3%) reported slapping, pushing with no injuries/lasting pain, 3 (4.5%) reported punching, kicking, bruises, cuts and/or continuing pain, 5 (7.5%) reported being beaten-up and receiving severe contusions, burns or broken bones; 2 (3%) reported internal and/or permanent injury, while 4 (6%) reported the most severe incident to be the use of a weapon, or wound from weapon. One hundred and twenty-one (24.5%) respondents replied affirmatively to the question of over being physically hurt by the husband that resulted in the use of a self-prescribed medication/ointment; while an additional 42 (8.5%) respondents stated that the physical abuse necessitated consulting a physician or visit to a hospital for treatment. Twenty-four (4.9%) respondents believed that religion allowed a husband to beat his wife, even if she has been faithful to him. While 105 (21.3%) believed that religion allowed a husband to forcibly have sex with his wife even if she does not want to engage in it. One hundred sixty-four (33.3%) respondents also replied affirmatively to the question that either their father or mother had physically beaten them while they were 18 years or older.

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