Original articles

Intimate partner piolence, health Behaviours, and chronic physical illness among South African women

Jesse D Gass, Dan J Stein, David R Williams, Soraya Seedat

Abstract


Objectives. An association between intimate partner violence and adverse physical health outcomes and health-risk behaviours among women has been established, most scientific research having been conducted in the USA and other developed countries. There have been few studies in developing countries, including South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the world. We therefore sought to study the association between physical intimate partner violence and physical health outcomes and behaviours among South African women.
Methods. Using data from the cross-sectional, nationally representative South Africa Stress and Health Study, we assessed exposure to intimate partner violence, health-risk behaviours, health-seeking behaviours and chronic physical illness among a sample of 1 229 married and cohabiting women.
Results. The prevalence of reported violence was 31%. This correlated with several health-risk behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of non-medical sedatives, analgesics and cannabis) and health-seeking behaviours (recent visits to a medical doctor or healer). Intimate partner violence was not significantly associated with chronic physical illness, although rates of headache, heart attack and high blood pressure reached near-significance.
Conclusions. Partner violence against women is a significant public health problem in South Africa, associated with health-risk behaviours and increased use of medical services. Public health programmes should incorporate interventions to mitigate the impact of violence on victims and reduce the risk of negative behavioural outcomes. Further investigation of the pathways between violence exposure and health behaviours is needed to inform the design of such programming.

Authors' affiliations

Jesse D Gass, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Dan J Stein, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town

David R Williams, Harvard School of Public Health

Soraya Seedat, MRC Anxiety & Stress Disorders Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch

Full Text

PDF (89KB)

Keywords

Chronic Physical Illness; Health Behavior; Intimate Partner Violence; South Africa; Women

Cite this article

South African Medical Journal 2010;100(9):582-585.

Article History

Date submitted: 2010-05-21
Date published: 2010-09-07

Article Views

Abstract views: 3315
Full text views: 2214

Comments on this article

*Read our policy for posting comments here