Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Arumeru District

Abstract

Intimate partner violence has been prevalent worldwide. The extent of violence results in a number of physical, emotional effects and even death. In Tanzania the problem has been persistent for with grave consequences. It is with this concern that this study embarked on a research journey in order to assess the type of violence intimate partners experience and establish the determinants of Intimate Partner Violence in Arusha Region. The study adopted a Probability sampling technique where a total of 300 aged 15 to 60 were sampled for the study from Sing’isi and Akheri ward in Arumeru District. The study adapted the Validated Arabic Version of the NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NORAQ) as a quantitative tool while a face to face interview was conducted as qualitative method. The study explored three types of violence experienced by the respondents that is emotional, physical and sexual violence. In each of the three violence types the extent of violence was measured through the questions established by the NorVold Abuse Questionnaire. The study revealed that majority of respondents (78%) had experienced mild emotional violence from their partners while only few of them (20%) had experienced mild sexual violence. Forty six percent of the respondents have experienced mild physical violence, making it the second type of violence experienced by many respondents while Seventy eight percent of respondents reported that they had experienced mild emotional violence in their relationship. For the case of factors for IPV the study shows that there is a significant relation between financial dependence, employment status, income per month, age at marriage and partner drink alcohol or use drugs with respect to Intimate partner violence in Arumeru District.