Dataset Information

Prevalence of domestic violence against women in informal settlements in Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional survey.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Domestic violence against women harms individuals, families, communities and society. Perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members, its overlapping forms include physical, sexual and emotional violence, control and neglect. We aimed to describe the prevalence of these forms of violence and their perpetrators in informal settlements in Mumbai.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Two large urban informal settlement areas.

Participants

5122 women aged 18-49 years.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Prevalence and perpetrators in the last year of physical, sexual and emotional domestic violence, coercive control and neglect. For each of these forms of violence, responses to questions about individual acts and composite estimates.

Results

In the last year, 644 (13%) women had experienced physical domestic violence, 188 (4%) sexual violence and 963 (19%) emotional violence. Of ever-married women, 13% had experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in the last year. Most physical (87%) and sexual violence (99%) was done by partners, but emotional violence equally involved marital family members. All three forms of violence were more common if women were younger, in the lowest socioeconomic asset quintile or reported disability. 1816 women (35%) had experienced at least one instance of coercive control and 33% said that they were afraid of people in their home. 10% reported domestic neglect of their food, sleep, health or children's health.

Conclusions

Domestic violence against women remains common in urban informal settlements. Physical and sexual violence were perpetrated mainly by intimate partners, but emotional violence was attributed equally to partners and marital family. More than one-third of women described controlling behaviours perpetrated by both intimate partners and marital family members. We emphasise the need to include the spectrum of perpetrators and forms of domestic violence-particularly emotional violence and coercive control-in data gathering.

Trial registration number

ISRCTN84502355; Pre-results.

SUBMITTER: Daruwalla N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7745686 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Prevalence of domestic violence against women in informal settlements in Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional survey.

Daruwalla Nayreen N Kanougiya Suman S Gupta Apoorwa A Gram Lu L Osrin David D

BMJ open 20201216 12

<h4>Objectives</h4>Domestic violence against women harms individuals, families, communities and society. Perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members, its overlapping forms include physical, sexual and emotional violence, control and neglect. We aimed to describe the prevalence of these forms of violence and their perpetrators in informal settlements in Mumbai.<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional survey.<h4>Setting</h4>Two large urban informal settlement areas.<h4>Participants</h4>5122 wom ...[more]

PMID: 33328262

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Project description:BackgroundDomestic violence and abuse (DVA) are associated with increased risk of mental illness, but we know little about the mental health of female DVA survivors seeking support from domestic violence services.ObjectiveOur goal was to characterise the demography and mental health of women who access specialist DVA services in the United Kingdom and to investigate associations between severity of abuse and measures of mental health and health state utility, accounting for important confounders and moderators.DesignBaseline data on 260 women enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention for DVA survivors were analysed. We report the prevalence of and associations between mental health status and severity of abuse at the time of recruitment. We used logistic and normal regression models for binary and continuous outcomes, respectively. The following mental health measures were used: Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment, and the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale to measure posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) measured abuse.ResultsExposure to DVA was high, with a mean CAS score of 56 (SD 34). The mean CORE-OM score was 18 (SD 8) with 76% above the clinical threshold (95% confidence interval: 70-81%). Depression and anxiety levels were high, with means close to clinical thresholds, and more than three-quarters of respondents recorded PTSD scores above the clinical threshold. Symptoms of mental illness increased stepwise with increasing severity of DVA.ConclusionsWomen DVA survivors who seek support from DVA services have recently experienced high levels of abuse, depression, anxiety, and especially PTSD. Clinicians need to be aware that patients presenting with mental health conditions or symptoms of depression or anxiety may be experiencing or have experienced DVA. The high psychological morbidity in this population means that trauma-informed psychological support is needed for survivors who seek support from DVA services.

Project description:We evaluated an adaptation of a large-scale community-based management of acute malnutrition program run by an NGO with government partnerships, in informal settlements of Mumbai, India. The program aimed to reduce the prevalence of wasting among children under age 3 and covered a population of approximately 300,000.This study used a mixed-methods approach including a quasi-experimental design to compare prevalence estimates of wasting in intervention areas with neighboring informal settlements. Cross-sectional data were collected from March through November 2014 for the baseline and October through December 2015 for the endline. Endline data were analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression models, adjusting for child, maternal, and household characteristics. In addition, we conducted in-depth interviews with 37 stakeholders (13 staff and 24 mothers) who reported on salient features that contributed to successful implementation of the program.We interviewed 2,578 caregivers at baseline and 3,455 at endline in intervention areas. In comparison areas, we interviewed 2,082 caregivers at baseline and 2,122 at endline. At endline, the prevalence of wasting decreased by 28% (18% to 13%) in intervention areas and by 5% (16.9% to 16%) in comparison areas. Analysis of the endline data indicated that children in intervention areas were significantly less likely to be malnourished (adjusted odds ratio, 0.81; confidence interval, 0.67 to 0.99). Stakeholders identified 4 main features as contributing to the success of the program: (1) tailoring and reinforcement of information provided to caregivers in informal settings, (2) constant field presence of staff, (3) holistic case management of issues beyond immediate malnourishment, and (4) persistence of field staff in persuading reluctant families. Staff capabilities were enhanced through training, stringent monitoring mechanisms, and support from senior staff in tackling difficult cases.NGO-government partnerships can revitalize existing community-based programs in urban India. Critical to success are processes that include reinforced knowledge-building of caregivers, a high level of field support and encouragement to the community, and constant monitoring and follow-up of cases by all staff levels.

Project description:BackgroundViolence against women is now widely recognised as an important public health problem, owing to its health consequences. Violence against women among many Indian communities on a regularly basis goes unreported. The objective of this study is to report the prevalence and other related issues of various forms of domestic violence against women from the eastern zone of India.MethodsIt is a population-based study covering both married women (n = 1718) and men (n = 1715) from three of the four states of Eastern India selected through a systematic multistage sampling strategy. Interviews were conducted using separate pre-piloted structured questionnaires for women (victimization) and men (perpetration). Women were asked whether their husband or any other family members committed violent acts against them. And men were asked whether they had ever perpetrated violent acts against their wives. Three principle domestic violence outcome variables (physical, psychological and sexual violence) were determined by response to a set of questions for each variable. In addition, data on socio-economic characteristics were collected. Descriptive statistics, bi- and multivariate analyses were done.ResultsThe overall prevalence of physical, psychological, sexual and any form of violence among women of Eastern India were 16%, 52%, 25% and 56% respectively. These rates reported by men were 22%, 59%, 17% and 59.5% respectively. Men reported higher prevalence of all forms of violence apart from sexual violence. Husbands were mostly responsible for violence in majority of cases and some women reported the involvement of husbands' parents. It is found that various acts of violence were continuing among majority of women who reported violence. Some socio-economic characteristics of women have significant association with the occurrence of domestic violence. Urban residence, older age, lower education and lower family income are associated with occurrence of domestic violence. Multivariate logistic regressions revealed that the physical violence has significant association with state, residence (rural or urban), age and occupation of women, and monthly family income. Similar associations are found for psychological violence (with residence, age, education and occupation of the women and monthly family income) and sexual violence (with residence, age and educational level of women).ConclusionThe prevalence of domestic violence in Eastern India is relatively high compared to majority of information available from India and confirms that domestic violence is a universal phenomenon. The primary healthcare institutions in India should institutionalise the routine screening and treatment for violence related injuries and trauma. Also, these results provide vital information to assess the situation to develop public health interventions, and to sensitise the concerned agencies to implement the laws related to violence against women.

Dataset Information

Prevalence of domestic violence against women in informal settlements in Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional survey.

Objectives

Design

Setting

Participants

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration number

Publications

Prevalence of domestic violence against women in informal settlements in Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional survey.

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