Domestic violence against women in Sivas, Turkey: survey study.

AIM To determine the self-reported prevalence of domestic violence and associated risk factors in the Sivas province of Turkey. METHOD Five hundred and eighty-three households were chosen by the method of stratified random sampling. The average age among women was 28.65+/-4.64. A total of 45.3% of women were in 30-34 age-group, 76.5% were housewives, and 91.2% were married. The data were gathered by performing face-to-face interviews in participants' homes. Demographic data were obtained by fill-in forms. RESULTS We found a statistically significant relationship among the types of violence and annual income, type of family, education and occupation level of women, education level of perpetrators, watching violent films, and childhood experience of emotional abuse or negligence. Fifty-two percent of women were exposed to at least one type of violence. Verbal violence was the most frequent type of violence (53.8%), followed by physical violence (38.3%). About 45% of women exposed to violence were in the 30-34 age group, 41.6% completed only primary schools, 73.6% were housewives, 91.7% were married, 71.0% had been exposed to violence during their childhood, and 45.2%, had been exposed to violence several times in a month. Economic problems were reported as the most important reason for domestic violence (31.4%). CONCLUSION Our study found higher prevalence of domestic violence than expected. As an important public health problem, domestic violence requires a multidisciplinary approach to understand its causes and plan preventive measures.