Abstract

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in domestic violence, affecting women's physical and mental health through direct and indirect means. A history of violence can increase the risk of various diseases, and severe abuse can persist even after the violence ceases.

Methods

A cross-sectional web-based survey that included 500 women calculated according to Roasoft calculator based on previously published Iraqi studies , it was convenience sampling and was conducted between June and September among 15-49 year old Iraqi women, recruited via social media platforms, and completed until a sample size of 500 forms was collected.

Results

The study found that psychological violence was the most common type of intimate partner violence in Iraq during COVID-19, with 84.6% of cases, followed by physical violence based on act 70% and injury 47%, then sexual violence 38.6%. The violence was more frequent among women with low education, working less than 8 hours, and men aged 31-40 with alcohol use. Demographic variables such as education, occupation, and working hours were strongly associated with sexual violence. Physical violence was associated with all socio-demographic variables.

Conclusion

This study showed the presence of a relatively high prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Thus, it is necessary to encourage women to educate and provide them with job opportunities alongside men, in addition to enforcing legislations concerning domestic violence.

Conflict of interest

None

Author contribution

Zainab Abdulrazzaq Atta: collected the data and wrote the paper

Mushtaq Talib Hashim: supervision

Key words

violence of husbands, reproductive age wives, covid-19