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Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming

BACKGROUND: Violence against women (VAW) has remained an increasingly significant public health problem globally. This study explored childhood experiences of abuse and attitude towards violence against women among adults in a rural community in South-east Nigeria. METHODS: This was a cross-sectiona...

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Autores principales: Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem, Akamike, Ifeyinwa Chizoba, Uneke, Chigozie Jesse, Abateneh, Dejene Derseh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8684412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34934373
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S342584
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author Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem
Akamike, Ifeyinwa Chizoba
Uneke, Chigozie Jesse
Abateneh, Dejene Derseh
author_facet Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem
Akamike, Ifeyinwa Chizoba
Uneke, Chigozie Jesse
Abateneh, Dejene Derseh
author_sort Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Violence against women (VAW) has remained an increasingly significant public health problem globally. This study explored childhood experiences of abuse and attitude towards violence against women among adults in a rural community in South-east Nigeria. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a rural community in Ebonyi, Nigeria. Data were collected from 280 respondents using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. RESULTS: The mean age of the male participants was 46.5±16.8, while that for the female participants was 43.3±16.9. Most were females (203/280, 72.5%), out of which (83/203, 40.9%) had secondary school as the highest level of education attained. Most participants were females (203/280, 72.5%), married (225/280, 80.4%) with secondary school education (124/280, 44.3%). More than one-tenth (33/280, 11.8%) had ever witnessed parental violence, while 46.4% had been physically abused in childhood. Forced touching and penetrative sex was experienced sometimes by 11.4% (32/280) and 21.8% (61/289), respectively. Overall, the majority (258/280, 92.8%) had a disapproving attitude towards gender-based violence. Most participants disagreed that hitting or insulting woman was not wrong (246/280, 87.9%). The majority of the respondents agreed that women were inferior to men from a cultural perspective (175/280, 62.5%). Almost half strongly agreed (125/2280, 44.6%) and agreed (118/280, 42.1%) that a woman is a man’s possession. The predictors of attitude were secondary school education (AOR = 7.74, 95% CI = 1.69–35.54) and monogamous marital setting (AOR = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.08–7.42). CONCLUSION: This study showed that Nigerian adults had high levels of childhood exposures to family violence, physical and sexual abuse. Overall, the majority disapproved of VAW; however, there were gaps that endorsed patriarchal ideologies. Interventions to address VAW should include components targeted at children exposed to violence and de-bunking patriarchal ideologies that encourage VAW.
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spelling pubmed-86844122021-12-20 Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem Akamike, Ifeyinwa Chizoba Uneke, Chigozie Jesse Abateneh, Dejene Derseh Risk Manag Healthc Policy Original Research BACKGROUND: Violence against women (VAW) has remained an increasingly significant public health problem globally. This study explored childhood experiences of abuse and attitude towards violence against women among adults in a rural community in South-east Nigeria. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a rural community in Ebonyi, Nigeria. Data were collected from 280 respondents using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. RESULTS: The mean age of the male participants was 46.5±16.8, while that for the female participants was 43.3±16.9. Most were females (203/280, 72.5%), out of which (83/203, 40.9%) had secondary school as the highest level of education attained. Most participants were females (203/280, 72.5%), married (225/280, 80.4%) with secondary school education (124/280, 44.3%). More than one-tenth (33/280, 11.8%) had ever witnessed parental violence, while 46.4% had been physically abused in childhood. Forced touching and penetrative sex was experienced sometimes by 11.4% (32/280) and 21.8% (61/289), respectively. Overall, the majority (258/280, 92.8%) had a disapproving attitude towards gender-based violence. Most participants disagreed that hitting or insulting woman was not wrong (246/280, 87.9%). The majority of the respondents agreed that women were inferior to men from a cultural perspective (175/280, 62.5%). Almost half strongly agreed (125/2280, 44.6%) and agreed (118/280, 42.1%) that a woman is a man’s possession. The predictors of attitude were secondary school education (AOR = 7.74, 95% CI = 1.69–35.54) and monogamous marital setting (AOR = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.08–7.42). CONCLUSION: This study showed that Nigerian adults had high levels of childhood exposures to family violence, physical and sexual abuse. Overall, the majority disapproved of VAW; however, there were gaps that endorsed patriarchal ideologies. Interventions to address VAW should include components targeted at children exposed to violence and de-bunking patriarchal ideologies that encourage VAW. Dove 2021-12-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8684412/ /pubmed/34934373 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S342584 Text en © 2021 Okedo-Alex et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) ). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem
Akamike, Ifeyinwa Chizoba
Uneke, Chigozie Jesse
Abateneh, Dejene Derseh
Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming
title Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming
title_full Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming
title_fullStr Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming
title_full_unstemmed Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming
title_short Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming
title_sort community attitudes towards violence against women, and lived experiences of family violence and abuse during childhood in rural eastern nigeria: implications for policy and programming
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8684412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34934373
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S342584
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