New Delhi, Aug 13: There is high incidence of nurses facing domestic violence by their marital partners, even when pregnant, which is reported to be affecting their physical and mental health, according to a study conducted by AIIMS here.
The study conducted among married nurses in various departments of the prestigious institute found that 60 per cent of of these nurses reported that marital partner perpetrated controlling behavior, 65 per cent reported emotional violence, 43.3 per cent reported physical violence and 30 per cent reported sexual violence.
As per the study, pregnancy does not provide immunity against domestic violence as 45.8 per cent of the physically abused victims were kicked or beaten when pregnant.
60 nurses who participated in the study worked in three different shifts in various departments including main hospital, private ward (new and main hospital), Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital and Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences.
Astonishingly, upto 18.86 per cent of pregnant nurses were physically abused, 7.5 per cent were kicked in the abdomen during pregnancy and in 30 per cent cases, slapping or beating got worse than before pregnancy.
33 per cent of the nurses experiencing domestic violence required medical care, the study revealed.
Over half of the study subjects (56.7 per cent) reported that physical or sexual violence affected their physical and mental health and caused inability to concentrate (56.7 per cent), loss of confidence in own abilities (26.7 per cent) and inability to work/sick leave (23.3 per cent).
Half of the respondents (50 per cent) reported there was no particular reason for violent behavior of husband.
Majority of respondents reported that most of the violent acts were still continuing. Far from being isolated acts of violence, several acts occurred many times, the study said.
This study was published in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine and was conducted by Kamlesh Kumari Sharma and Manju Vatsa with the College of Nursing at AIIMS.
