Examination of Attitudes of Married Women on Domestic Violence

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the attitudes of married women towards domestic violence. Method: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted between April and June 2010 with 1,010 women in five Family Healthcare Centers in the province of Erzincan, Turkey. The data were collected using a descriptive questionnaire and the Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Scale. When analyzing the data, numbers, percentages, minimum and maximum values, means and standard deviations as well as the Mann-Whitney-U, Kruskall Wallis variance and Spearman correlation analyses were used. Results: The average score of married women s Attitude Towards Domestic Violence Scale was 31,6 ± 7,0 and the entire women were found to have been exposed to verbal/psychological violence, 31,6% of them to physical violence, 28,3% to economic violence and 1.4% to sexual violence. Women who themselves were high school graduates and their husbands were high school and university graduates and had a job, who had no children, who lived in a nuclear family in a city or town, who perceived their income being more than their expenses, who stated that they made decisions together with their husbands and who were married at a more advanced age had more negative attitudes towards violence (p<0.001; p<0.01). Conclusion: The attitude of women against domestic violence was at a moderate level and they all were exposed to some kind of violence, verbal/psychological violence being at the top of the list. Nurses and other healthcare professionals should be sensitive about, and take responsibility for, the prevention of domestic violence and strengthening women support systems. Amac: Bu arastirma, evli kadinlarin aile ici siddete iliskin tutumlarinin incelenmesi amaciyla yapilmistir. Yontem: Tanimlayici-kesitsel turde yapilan bu arastirma Nisan-Haziran 2010 tarihleri arasinda, Erzincan il merkezinde bulunan bes Aile Sagligi Merkezinde 1010 kadin ile yapilmistir. Verilerin toplanmasinda tanimlayici soru formu ve Aile Ici Şiddete Yonelik Tutum Olcegi kullanilmistir. Verilerin analizinde, sayilar, yuzdelikler, en az ve en cok degerler ile ortalama ve standart sapmalarin yanisira; Mann Whitney-U, Kruskall Wallis varyans ve Spearman korelasyon analizleri kullanilmistir. Bulgular: Evli kadinlarin Aile Ici Şiddete Yonelik Tutum Olcegi puan ortalamasinin 31,6±7,0 oldugu, kadinlarin tamaminin sozel/psikolojik, %31,6’sinin fiziksel, %28,3 unun ekonomik ve %1,4 unun ise cinsel siddete maruz kaldigi belirlenmistir. Ayrica, kendisi lise, esleri lise ve universite mezunu olan, kendisi ve esi calisan, cocugu olmayan, cekirdek ailede ve il veya ilcede yasayan, gelirini giderinden fazla algilayan, kararlari esi ile birlikte ortak aldigini belirten ve evlenme yasi ileri olan kadinlarin siddete karsi tutumlarinin olumsuz oldugu saptanmistir (p<0,001; p<0,01). Sonuc: Kadinlarin, aile ici siddete karsi tutumlarinin orta duzeyde oldugu ve sozel/psikolojik siddet basta olmak uzere, siddetin her turune maruz kaldigi belirlenmistir. Diger saglik profesyonelleri ile birlikte hemsireler, aile ici siddeti onleme ve kadinlarin destek sistemlerini guclendirme konularinda duyarli olmali ve sorumluluk almalidir.