21 A study of domestic.pmd

1Faculty of Medicine, University of Bahr Elghazal, Khartoum, Sudan (Correspondence to A.M. Ahmed: [email protected]). Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan. Received: 18/03/03; accepted: 15/03/04 ABSTRACT To investigate domestic violence in the Sudanese family, we studied 394 literate, married women attending the Arda Medical Centre, Omdurman, from October 2001 to February 2002. Through selfadministered questionnaires, the women provided data on sociodemographic characteristics and abuse by the husband. Abuse was reported by 164 women (41.6%), who suffered 525 violent episodes in the previous year, classified into controlling behaviour (194), threatening behaviour (169) and physical violence (162). Frequency of violent episodes varied from 1 (25%) to > 6 (20.7%). Violence during pregnancy was reported by 27 women (16.5%). Provoking events included suspicion of illicit relations, talking back and inadequate home care. Common reactions reported by the women included staying quiet, crying and resistance.