TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Characteristic of victims of family violence seeking care at health centers in Maputo, Mozambique
JO  - Journal of emergencies, trauma and shock
A1  - Jethá, Eunice Abdul Remane
A1  - Lynch, Catherine A.
A1  - Houry, Debra E.
A1  - Rodrigues, Maria Alexendra
A1  - Chilundo, Baltazar
A1  - Sasser, Scott M.
A1  - Wright, David W.
SP  - 369
EP  - 373
VL  - 4
IS  - 3
N2  - BACKGROUND: Family violence (FV) is a common, yet often invisible, cause of violence. To date, most literature on risk factors for family, interpersonal and sexual violence is from high-income countries and might not apply to Mozambique. AIMS: To determine the individual risk factors for FV in a cohort of patients seeking care for injuries at three health centers in Maputo, Mozambique. SETTING AND DESIGN: A prospective multi-center study of patients presenting to the emergency department for injuries from violence inflicted by a direct family member in Maputo, Mozambique, was carried out. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who agreed to participate and signed the informed consent were verbally administered a pilot-tested blank-item questionnaire to ascertain demographic information, perpetrator of the violence, historical information regarding prior abuse, and information on who accompanied the victim and where they received their initial evaluation. De-identified data were entered into SPSS 13.0 (SPSS, version 13.0) and analyzed for frequencies. RESULTS: During the 8-week study period, 1206 assault victims presented for care, of whom 216 disclosed the relationship of the assailant, including 92 being victims of FV (42.6%). The majority of FV victims were women (63.0%) of age group 15-34 years (76.1%) and were less educated (84%) compared to national averages. Of the patients who reported assault on a single occasion, most were single (58.8%), while patients with multiple assaults were mostly married (63.2%). Most commonly, the spouse was the aggressor (50%) and a relative accompanied the victim seeking care (54.3%). Women most commonly sought police intervention prior to care (63.2%) in comparison to men (35.3%). CONCLUSION: In Mozambique, FV affects all ages, sexes and cultures, but victims seeking care for FV were more commonly women who were less educated and poorer.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0974-2700
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0974-2700.83866
ID  - ref1
ER  -