The Impact of Intimate Male Partner Violence on Women's Sexual Function: A Study in Iran

Sexuality is an integral part of a woman's life. A variety of factors can affect a woman's sexuality, among them physical disorders, social-religious beliefs, age, psychological factors, depression, mental tension, disbelief, an unfulfilling relationship with one's spouse and emotional and physical violence.

The present study aimed to explore the rate of domestic violence against women and its impact on women's sexuality.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 813 women referring to the gynaecology clinics of Jahrom, Iran, from April to October 2015. Data were collected using a demographics questionnaire, a violence questionnaire and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). The collected data were analysed using Student's t-test and logistic regression.

The prevalence of violence was found to be 43.2%. Also, there was a significant relationship between violence and age (OR=1.33 95% CI=2.22-7.95, p<0.001). The rate of violence was found to increase by 3.1 times with an increase in the length of marriage (OR=3.1595% CI=1.42-4.12, p<0.001). Moreover, domestic violence significantly correlated with women's education level (OR=11.75 95% CI=2.15-64.12, p=0.002) and their husband's education level (OR=0.194, 95%CI=0.329-0.919, p=0.02). The results showed that the sexual function mean score of non-abused women and abused women were 17.74±8.82 and 14.59±10.63, respectively. However, a significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the domains of sexual function (p<0.05).

This study showed that the frequency of domestic violence is rather high and that can increase the risk of sexual dysfunction. Thus, routine screening for violence and sexual dysfunction is recommended for early detection of violence and sexual dysfunction.