Intimate partner violence and nutritional status among nepalese women: an investigation of associations

摘要

IPV, the primary exposure variable, was measured in two different ways based on 13 questions related to emotional, physical, and sexual violence and 5 questions related to controlling behaviours. Questions on emotional violence asked the woman if she had ever been humiliated in front of others; threatened or had someone close to her threatened with harm; or insulted or made to feel bad about herself. Questions on physical violence included asking the woman if a partner had ever pushed, shaken, or thrown something at her; slapped or twisted her arm; punched her with a fist or something that could hurt; kicked or dragged her; tried to strangle or burn her; or attacked her with a knife, gun, or other weapon or threatened to do so. Sexual violence questions included whether she had been forced to engage or threatened by sexual intercourse and acts. Questions related to controlling behaviours included whether she felt that her husband/partner was jealous or angry if she talked to other men; frequently accused her of being unfaithful; did not permit her to meet her female friends; tried to limit her contact with her family; or insisted on knowing where she is at all times. For the first measurement of IPV, responses to each of the 13 questions related to emotional, physical, and sexual violence and 5 questions related to controlling behaviours were combined to generate a dichotomous variable denoting “any experience of IPV including controlling behaviours “ if she answered “yes” to any of the 18 questions. For the second measurement of IPV, we focused only on the 13 physical, emotional and sexual violence questions. Additionally, the severity of physical violence was measured based on none (never experienced physical violence) moderate (if a partner had ever pushed, shaken, or thrown something at her or slapped her) or severe (if the partner had ever twisted her arm or punched her with a fist or something that could hurt; kicked or dragged her; tried to strangle or burn her; or attacked her with a knife, gun, or other weapon or threatened to do so).