@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 1027-1457    Scientific Journal of Forensic Medicine 2020;26(1):39-44

Background
The increase in the divorce rate in Iranian society in recent years has created many social concerns. Identifying the factors affecting divorce can play an important role in preventing its occurrence due to the very negative consequences of social problems. Domestic violence against women seems to be one of the main reasons for divorce.
Previous Studies
… [1-9]. Domestic violence is a global problem that is seen in most countries and in all types of people and socioeconomic classes [10, 11]. About 50-40% of women experience domestic violence in their lives, which threatens their mental and physical health and sometimes leads them to suicide [10]. According to available reports worldwide, the prevalence of spousal abuse is 63% in Chile, 20% in Colombia, 62% in New Guinea, and 35% in the United States [12]. … [13-16].
Aim(s)
This study was conducted with the general purpose of investigating the prevalence and type of violence in women seeking divorce referred to Boyer-Ahmad Forensic Medicine Organization.
Research type
This research was a descriptive-analytical study.
Research society, place and time
In this study, 206 women seeking divorce referred to the Forensic Medicine Organization of Boyer-Ahmad County in July 2017 to February 2018 by convenience sampling method entered to the study.
Sampling method and number
A total of 206 women subjected to violence were included in the study by convenience sampling; thus, women who had referred to forensic medicine for the past 8 months and were eligible to enter the study were introduced to the interviewer.
Used devices&materials
The research tool included the following questionnaires: 1- Domestic Violence Questionnaire: This questionnaire was standardized by Dr. Mohseni Tabrizi in Iran and contains 26 questions. In the study by Mohseni Tabrizi et al., Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this questionnaire was 0.183 [17]. 2- Interference of Others Questionnaire: This researcher-made questionnaire, which contains 5 five-choice questions, was designed based on the interference of others. The content validity of this questionnaire was confirmed by 5 professors in sociology and psychology and also Cronbach's alpha of this questionnaire was 0.72. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 19 software. The normality of data distribution was examined by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test followed by the Pearson correlation coefficient test to examine the correlation between research variables.
Findings by Text
The majority of the studied women were in the age group of 29 to 33 years, had a diploma education, and were married for 6 years and more. Most of the respondents (163) were housewives and their spouses (94) had non-governmental jobs (Table 1).The variable of domestic violence had a moderate mean, and the highest mean score was found for psychological violence and the lowest for sexual violence. Also, in the majority of women studied, domestic violence, verbal violence, economic violence, and physical violence were at a moderate level, and psychological violence was at high and sexual violence at low levels (Table 2).The mean score of learning violence was 2.58 ± 6.26, suspicion and betrayal was 3.00 ±6.19, and the interference of others was 2.71 ± 5.20. There was a positive and significant correlation between variables learning violence, suspicion and betrayal, and interference of others with domestic violence and its types (Table 3).
Main comparison to the similar studies
In general, the domestic violence variable was at a moderate level, and the highest mean was related to psychological violence (4.84) and the lowest mean was found for sexual violence (1.72). This indicates a reduction in direct physical damages and a change in the subculture of violence. These findings are in line with the findings of studies by Shayan et al. [18, 19], Naderpour & Shahabadi [20], Mirzaei [21], Maghsoudi et al. [22] and Alserkal et al. [23]. … [25-28]. There was a significant correlation between spouse occupation and sexual, economic, physical, and domestic violence. Unemployed men are more violent against women. Unemployment in men can cause stress and due to their more presence at home, marital conflicts due to financial problems and the resulting psychological effects lead to violence against women. Thus, violence is higher in families with lower economic, social, and cultural levels. These findings are consistent with previous studies [10, 24, 26, 28]. … [29-34].
Suggestions
For future studies, it is suggested that these studies be performed on a larger sample size of women.
Limitations
One of the limitations of this study was the limited sample of women seeking divorce referred to Forensic Medicine.
Conclusions
Domestic violence among women seeking divorce referred to the Boyer-Ahmad County Forensic Medicine Organization is moderate and their psychological violence is high.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Forensic Medicine of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Provinces for their utmost support and cooperation in conducting this research.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Ethical Permissions
This article was a result of a research project approved by the Research Center of the Forensic Medicine Organization of Iran approved by the Ethics Committee of Biomedical Research (IR.LMO.REC.1396,1).
Funding Sources
This research was financially supported by the Research Center of the Forensic Medicine Organization of Iran.

TABLES and CHARTS

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