Ending domestic violence against women: assessment of knowledge and perceptions of women in Benin city, Edo State
Keywords:
Knowledge, perception, violence against womenAbstract
Objective: To assess the knowledge and perception of Violence AgainstWomen in Benin City.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized for this study. Study population comprised pregnant women attending routine Antenatal Clinic at Central Hospital, Benin City. Respondents were selected using a systematic sampling technique. Data was collected using a pre-tested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire comprising both open and closedended questions and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21.0 software. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: A total of 400 antenatal attendees with mean age of 29.8 ± 4.4 years participated in the study. Two hundred and ninety three (73.2%) of respondents had good knowledge of the meaning of domestic violence. A higher proportion of respondents 70.8% knew that physical violence was a form of DV while 36.8%, 32.3% and 28.5% knew physical, sexual and psychological violence as forms of violence respectively. Overall, only 5.0% respondents had good knowledge of VAW. Less than half(41.8%), had good perception of VAW. Being more submissive (76.8%), prayerful (74.5%) and obedient (66.8%) were recommendations on ways of ending VAW.
Conclusion: This study documented poor knowledge and perception of DV among the studied population. It is therefore imperative for all stake holders to ensure collective effort in improving the access to knowledge through awareness programmes which will in turn positively affect perception.
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