Characteristic of victims of family violence seeking care at health centers in Maputo, Mozambique

• Published in: Journal of emergencies, trauma and shock Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 369 - 373
• Main Authors: Jethá, Eunice Abdul Remane, Lynch, Catherine A, Houry, Debra E, Rodrigues, Maria Alexendra, Chilundo, Baltazar, Sasser, Scott M, Wright, David W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.07.2011; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Demographic aspects; Domestic violence; Family violence; Health care; Original; Prevention; Public health; Risk factors; Victims of crime; Mozambique; Maputo Mozambique; Emergency care; Mozambique; injuries; family violence
• ISSN: 0974-2700; 0974-519X
• DOI: 10.4103/0974-2700.83866

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. To determine the individual risk factors for FV in a cohort of patients seeking care for injuries at three health centers in Maputo, Mozambique. 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. 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. 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%). 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.