Domestic Abuse in Pregnant Women

Domestic Abuse In Pregnant Women

Domestic abuse is violence which actuates physical, psychological, economic, and sexual harm in a domestic setting such as marriage or cohabitation (Asratie, 2022). The term “domestic violence” can be used interchangeably with the term “intimate partner violence” depending on the perpetrators of the violence. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is perpetrated by either a spouse or a partner (World Health Organization, 2023). Some health effects of domestic abuse are immediate, such as short-term physical injuries and death. However, other health effects can be long-term, which may develop years after the abuse began and continue to affect the victim after it has ceased, including increased rates of chronic conditions, physical disabilities, sexually transmitted diseases, poor reproductive outcomes, self harm, alcohol disorders, and mental health conditions (William et al., 2022). The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 3 women have been victims to some form of physical or sexual domestic or intimate partner violence, and 20% to 75% of women will be subjected to psychological violence in their lifetime (2023). Domestic abuse against pregnant women is a devastating and under-reported problem throughout the world (Asratie, 2022).

Domestic abuse can have severely harmful and life-threatening effects on women, and when a pregnant woman is subjected to any form of abuse it will not only affect the mother, but the baby as well. More than 320,000 women are abused during pregnancy each year worldwide (Tiwari et al., 2008). Physical, psychological and sexual abuse have the ability to take a great negative toll on the health of the mother and the developing baby physically, mentally, and emotionally. A mother must be free of fear and stress in order to have a safe, healthy pregnancy for both the pregnant mother and the baby.

There are many visuals as well as scales used by individuals in research and clinical fields to measure and explore domestic abuse. The Power and Control Wheel serves as a diagram of tactics that an abusive partner uses to keep their victim in a relationship. The wheel displays how subtle, continual abusive behaviors can escalate to physical and sexual violence, and how these actions can reinforce each other. To measure severity of cases of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence, researchers have developed the Conflict Tactics Scale, Conflict Tactics Scale 2, and the Abuse Assessment Screen. All of these tools work to detect and assess abuse and violence within households. These forms of measurement all involve extensive questionnaires consisting of questions such as, “Have you ever been emotionally or physically abused by your partner or someone important to you” or “Within the last year, have you been hit, slapped, kicked or otherwise physically hurt by someone” (UCLA, 2012).

This paper also explores possible future research and investigations that could be made to improve general knowledge of the signs and effects of domestic abuse as well as steps societies and healthcare workers could take to better assess and detect domestic abuse in women and steps to take to improve preventative measures.