Perception of Beninese on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from 2011-2012 Benin Demographic Health Survey A
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Perception of Beninese on intimate partner violence: evidence from 2011-2012 Benin demographic health survey A. Kpozehouen, N. M. Paraiso, Y. G. Ahanhanzo, E. Klikpo, C. S. Jerome, L. T. Ouedraogo, Roger Salamon To cite this version: A. Kpozehouen, N. M. Paraiso, Y. G. Ahanhanzo, E. Klikpo, C. S. Jerome, et al.. Perception of Beninese on intimate partner violence: evidence from 2011-2012 Benin demographic health survey. BMC Women’s Health, BioMed Central, In press, 18 (1), pp.140. 10.1186/s12905-018-0633-x. hal- 03019688 HAL Id: hal-03019688 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03019688 Submitted on 23 Nov 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution| 4.0 International License Kpozehouen et al. BMC Women's Health (2018) 18:140 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-018-0633-x RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Perception of Beninese on intimate partner violence: evidence from 2011-2012 Benin demographic health survey Alphonse Kpozehouen1,6* , Noël Moussiliou Paraïso2, Yolaine Glèlè Ahanhanzo1, Elvyre Klikpo3, Charles Sossa Jérôme4, Laurent T. Ouédraogo1 and Roger Salamon5 Abstract Background: Violence against women remains an important issue of inequality in African societies, with several consequences to health, social and economic status. This study aims to identify the factors related to the perception of intimate partner violence in Benin. Methods: Data on intimate partner violence was collected by conducting live interviews, and from the Benin Demographic and Health Survey 2012. The dependent variable was acceptance of intimate partner violence. The independent variables were socio-demographic features such as age, level of education, matrimonial status, ethnicity, religion, place of residence and the index of economic well-being. Logistic regressions were performed and odds ratios (OR) with a confidence interval of 95% (CI95%) were estimated. Results: Among the 21,574 people who answered the questions relating to violence against women by an intimate partner, the prevalence of acceptance of intimate partner violence was 15.77%. Ethnicity, level of education, administrative department of residence, religion, and socio-economic quintile were factors associated with the respondents’ acceptance of violence against women by an intimate partner. Conclusion: Acceptance of intimate partner violence could be a major obstacle to the success of some health programs. There is a need to break the norms that support the vulnerability of women in Beninese society. Keywords: Intimate partner violence, Social perception, Benin Background issues, including depression, anxiety, and tendencies to- Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a human rights viola- wards addiction and suicidal thoughts [7–9]. Some au- tion. It is a form of discrimination towards women that, thors have tried to explain the circumstances surrounding both in law and in fact, conveys the persistence of inequal- IPV [10]. In African societies, there is a pre-established ities between men and women. IPV is also a public health order in which the woman must submit to her husband or issue that could have consequences to women’sphysical spouse. However, we are now noticing that economic de- and mental health [1–3]. According to the World Health velopment among women, their education and their fi- Organization (WHO), the global prelavence of IPV is 30%, nancial autonomy are making them more aware of gender and this prevalence is very high in countries in inequalities. This awareness in turn leads to conflicts. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia [4–6]. Violence against women therefore seems to be one of the IPV is known to be associated with both short- and most brutal consequences of the economic, social, political long-term psychological and mental problems and health and cultural inequalities that exist between men and women [11]. In Benin, despite the existence of a legislative [12] and regulatory framework (Individuals and Family * Correspondence: [email protected] Code) that protect the rights of vulnerable people such as 1Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Regional Institute of Public Health, Ouidah, Benin women, IPV is still observed. The upsurge of this 6Cotonou, Benin phenomenon is such that, according to a survey Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Kpozehouen et al. BMC Women's Health (2018) 18:140 Page 2 of 9 undertaken by the Ministry of Family and National the Opinion Research Corporation Macro International, Solidarity in 2009, 69% of Beninese women had suffered Inc. (ORC Macro Inc., Calverton, MD, USA). abuse at least once in their life [13]. Abuse against women in Benin takes multiple and varied forms: from sexist Instrument insults to psychophysiological abuses, through forced mar- Dependent variable riages (by abduction or exchange) or religious sequestra- Participants were asked whether a husband/partner is tion, etc. The causes of such abuse must be investigated justified in abusing his wife/partner under the following within the society or culture of the perpetrators and the vic- series of circumstances: i) “the woman burned the food”; tims. Abuse against women is based on a society’s percep- ii) “the woman argued with the man”; iii) “the woman tions, not only of violence, but also of men and women. went out of the home without prior permission from her The purpose of the present study is to assess women and partner”; iv) “the woman neglected the children”; and v) men’s perception of IPV by determining the prevalence and “the woman refused to have sex with the man”. The re- associated factors of this phenomenon in Benin. sponse format to these questions was “yes” or “no” [16]. A binary outcome variable was created for acceptance Methods of IPV based on yes and no; if the respondent did not Study description agree with any of the circumstances mentioned or did Located in Western Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea, Benin not have any opinion on the issue, the answer was “No”, has a surface area of 114,763 km2. Its population was es- and if the respondent agreed with at least one of the cir- timated at 8,364,942 in 2008 based on the projections of cumstances mentioned above, the answer was “Yes”. the 2002 census [14]. Its main economic activities are agriculture, the craft industry, and informal trade. The Independent variables organization of the healthcare system is based on the The independent variables considered were: primary healthcare model with a central level, an inter- mediate level, and a peripheral level encompassing all The age of the interviewed persons, categorized into healthcare programs. 3 groups: ≤24; 25–34 and ≥ 35. The level of education of both the men and the Data women, classified in 4 categories: i) No education; ii) Data on health and intimate partner violence in Benin Primary education; iii) Secondary education; iv) were collected as part of a secondary Benin Demo- Higher education. graphic and Health Survey (DHS) which took place in The matrimonial status of the survey participants, 2011–2012 [15]. The Benin DHS contained datasets of categorized as: i) Never been in a relationship; ii) adult men in the 15–64 age group and women in the Married; iii) Living with partner; iv) Widowed; v) 15–49 age group. The Benin DHS data were collected Divorced; vi) No longer living together. using interview methods compliant with international The religion practiced by the respondents, classified and national ethical guidelines. The Benin DHS was de- as: i) Voodoo/Traditional; ii) Islam; iii) Christian; iv) signed to provide socio-demographic and health indica- Other religion; v) No religion. tors at urban, rural and regional levels. The Benin DHS The occupation of the survey participants, classified samples were selected using a stratified two-stage cluster as: i) “Working”, if the person worked; ii) “Not sampling design. Sampling of women and men was per- working”, if they did not work. formed according to the list of enumeration areas devel- The living area of the respondents, categorized as: i) oped from the 2002 Population Census sampling frame. Rural; ii) Urban. The initial sampling stage involved the selection of 750 The place of residence, i.e. in which of the 12 clusters, also known as Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) administrative departments of Benin the survey with a probability proportional to the size. The size, in participants resided. this case, is the number of households in the cluster. The variable “who makes decisions regarding Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with household expenditure”, categorized as: i) The 16,599 women aged 15 to 49 years, and with 5180 men woman; ii) The woman or the man; iii) The man aged 15 to 64 years. In the absence of reliable data on income and expend- Ethical considerations iture in developing countries, in the Demographic and Permission to use the above-mentioned data in our Health Surveys, the poverty index is used.