Postpartum Women’s Lived Experiences of Perinatal Intimate Partner Violence in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Phenomenological Study Approach

OBJECTIVE: Perinatal intimate partner violence affects the health and safety of postpartum women and their infants. However, it has not been well recognized and addressed in the study setting. Hence, this study aimed to explore postpartum women’s lived experiences of perinatal intimate partner violence and its contributing factors in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. METHODS: A phenomenological study approach was used to explore postpartum women’s lived experiences of perinatal partner violence from January to March 2020. A total of twenty-two postnatal women and five health extension workers (HEWs) were interviewed. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim in local languages, and then translated into English. Data were analyzed thematically, using deductive and inductive coding. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (CORE-Q) checklist was followed to report the findings. RESULTS: Results indicated that postpartum women had experienced recurrent violence before, during, and after pregnancy from their husbands, with 16 out of 22 women being subjected to perinatal intimate partner violence. A majority of the participants delineated their exposure to perinatal physical violence next to perinatal psychological violence. Many of the interviewed women noted that violence during pregnancy was exacerbated and increased during postpartum. Moreover, the interviewees revealed that some partners were not only a serious threat to their wives, but also their infants during the postpartum period. Four of the participants stated that their newborns were hit and thrown by their father and became unconscious. Participants linked husbands’ perinatal violence with suspicion about the newborn, male-child preference, partner infidelity and jealousy, contraceptives usage, alcohol consumptions, indifference to shortages on household necessities, improper parenting, and financial problems. CONCLUSION: This study highlights that postpartum women are experiencing continuous and severe forms of perinatal IPV in the study setting. Thus, community-level interventions that minimize perinatal partner violence against postnatal women and their infants are needed.