Original scientific paper
The prevalence of domestic violence in primary care patients in Slovenia in a five-year period (2005-2009)
Nena Kopčavar Guček
; Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Igor Švab
; Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Polona Selič
orcid.org/0000-0002-5949-0580
; Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Aim To estimate the prevalence of exposure to domestic
violence in primary care patients in Slovenia and determine
the associated factors.
Methods In a systematic cross-sectional survey, 70 physicians
from 70 family medicine practices from urban and
rural settings conducted interviews with every fifth patient
from January 15 to February 15, 2010.
Results Of 2075 patients (98.8% response rate), 372
(17.9%) were exposed to psychological or physical violence
in the family in the last five years. Factors that increased
the chances of exposure to psychological and physical
violence were female sex (odds ratio [OR], 3.27; 95% confidence
interval [CI], 2.24-4.76; P < 0.001; OR, 4.52; 95% CI,
2.83-7.20; P < 0.001, respectively) and formal divorce (OR,
2.08; 95% CI, 1.35-3.21; P = 0.001; OR, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.73-4.29;
P < 0.001, respectively). Factors that decreased the chances
of exposure to psychological violence were age of 65 years
or above (OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.33-0.96, P = 0.035) and single
status (OR, 0.43; 95% CI 0.21-0.86, P = 0.016), while age of
65 years or above (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.23-0.79, P = 0.007)
and parenting of two children (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29-0.90,
P = 0.020) decreased the chances of exposure to physical
violence.
Conclusions We found the rate of exposure to psychological
and physical violence of 17.9%, which indicates that
this problem is a serious public health issue that needs to
be addressed by adequate measures. The identified risk
and protective factors could serve as a valid guidance for
family physicians dealing with physical violence.
Keywords
primary health care; domestic violence; prevalence; risk factors
Hrčak ID:
78203
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2011.
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