Pakistani obstetricians' recognition of and attitude towards domestic violence screening

Objective: Our study assesses Pakistani obstetricians knowledge of the prevalence of domestic violence in clinical practice and attitudes towards instituting screening protocols during routine antenatal care. Methods: One hundred obstetricians, all Karachi residents, were randomly drawn from a strat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of gynecology and obstetrics 2004-10, Vol.87 (1), p.59-65
Main Authors: Fikree, F.F., Jafarey, S.N., Korejo, R., Khan, A., Durocher, J.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Barriers
Biological and medical sciences
Counseling
Domestic violence
Domestic Violence - statistics & numerical data
Female
Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Obstetricians
Obstetrics
Pakistan
Physician's Role
Routine screening
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective: Our study assesses Pakistani obstetricians knowledge of the prevalence of domestic violence in clinical practice and attitudes towards instituting screening protocols during routine antenatal care. Methods: One hundred obstetricians, all Karachi residents, were randomly drawn from a stratified sampling list taken from membership lists. A structured questionnaire assessing prevalence, attitudes, and beliefs on training and domestic violence screening protocols was administered. Results: Nearly 70% of obstetricians reported that more than 30% of Pakistani women are victims of domestic abuse. Sixty-two obstetricians specified that they had identified a physically abused woman within the past year. Almost half of the respondents were favorably inclined to screen patients. Professional, personal and patient-related barriers were identified as the main hurdles preventing instituting screening. Conclusions: The desire for instituting routine screening despite the recognition of major hurdles by Pakistani obstetricians should propel reproductive health stakeholders to raise awareness about appropriately modifying standard antenatal care protocols.
ISSN:0020-7292
1879-3479
DOI:10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.05.014