Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1402704
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Mental Health in Vulnerable Populations in Developing Countries View all 23 articles

Help-seeking behaviors and determinant factors among women exposed to intimate partner violence in East Africa, based on recent Demographic and Health Survey data: A multilevel Analysis

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
  • 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Ethiopia
  • 3 Department of Medicine, Adama General Hospital and Medical College, Adama, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
  • 4 Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
  • 5 Department of Ophthalmology, College of Health Science, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia
  • 6 Department of Public Health, College of Medical and Health Science, Samara University, Samara, Ethiopia
  • 7 Department of General Midwifery, School of Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Human rights violations and violence against women are serious public health issues that have numerous detrimental repercussions on one's physical, emotional, sexual, and reproductive health. According to studies, women's perceptions and traits of violence are highly predictive of their likelihood of seeking help against violence. Even though intimate partner violence is a huge challenge nowadays in Africa, there is a low level of help-seeking behavior.Conducting this study at the East African level on help-seeking behavior can provide a clue for policy-makers. Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the prevalence of help-seeking behavior against intimate partner violence and determinate factors among women in East Africa.Demographic and Health Survey data. A total of 7,387 participants aged 15 to 49 years were included in this study from East African countries. Individual level and community level variables were considered to determine the associated factors with help-seeking behaviors against intimate partner violence with 95% CI and AOR.The prevalence of help-seeking behavior against intimate partner violence among women was 38.07% with a 95% CI (36.96%, 39.18%). Husbands drink alcohol [AOR=1.46: 95% CI; (1.33, 1.61)], women who have work [AOR=1.33: 95% CI; (1.19, 1.50)], and women with higher educational status [AOR=1.36: 95% CI; (1.16, 1.59)] were factors associated with help-seeking behavior against intimate partner violence.Approximately four out of ten women were seeking help for their intimate partner violence in East Africa. Husbands drinking alcohol, women's high educational status, and women having occupations were the factors that were associated with help-seeking behaviors against intimate partner violence.

    Keywords: Multilevel Analysis, help seeking, Behavior, Intimate partner, Violence

    Received: 18 Mar 2024; Accepted: 30 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Melkam, Asnake, Mekuria Negussie, Bezie, Alamrie, Asebe, Lemma and Fente. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mamaru Melkam, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.