Violence against women and its association with the intimate partner's profile: a study with primary care users

To verify the association between the history of violence against women and the socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics of intimate partners.

A cross-sectional study was carried out with 938 women using basic health care, aged between 20 and 59 years, who at the time of the interview had an intimate partner. Information about the sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics of the intimate partner were collected, as well as the WHO VAW Study instrument for tracking the psychological, physical and sexual violence experienced in the past year. A bivariate analysis was performed using the Pearson c2 test and multivariate analysis using Poisson regression with robust variance.

The highest prevalences of psychological, physical and sexual violence were significantly associated with partners who had no occupation and who refused to use condoms in sexual relationships. Men who were considered controllers and who consumed alcoholic beverages were associated with greater perpetration of psychological and physical violence (p < 0.05). Partners with up to eight years of schooling present a higher frequency of psychological violence (PR = 1.32, 95%CI 1.05 - 1.66), while sexual violence was significantly higher among women whose partners smoked: 1.94, 95%CI 1.11 - 3.38).

These data highlight the importance of health professionals, work together in other sectors such as education and safety, dealing with alcohol and other drugs, as well as addressing issues of gender.