Intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Vietnam: role of husbands

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators are often husbands. Understanding factors pertaining to women's male partners is essential for programming interventions against IPV. The objective of the study was to describe husband-related social and behavioural risk factors and assess how they are associated with IPV during pregnancy. Cross-sectional data were collected among 1309 pregnant women with husbands in Dong Anh district, Vietnam. Information on sociodemographic characteristics of husbands, the husband's behaviour and the husband's involvement in pregnancy care was indirectly collected via women's report at first antenatal care visit. Data on exposure to intimate partner violence during pregnancy were collected when the women returned for antenatal care in 30-34 gestational weeks. Logistic regression analyses were used to measure the relationships between IPV during pregnancy and risk factors from the husband. Pregnant women who had husbands who were younger or blue-collar worker/farmer/unemployed had more likelihood to be exposed to IPV. Women with husbands who drank alcohol before sexual intercourse and gambled were more likely to be exposed to IPV repeated times. Those with husbands who had intentions of having a child had over three times increased OR to be exposed to IPV once (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.1-9.7). If the husband had a preference for sons, the woman had 1.5 times increased OR (AOR = 1.5; 95% CI 1.1-1.9) to be exposed to IPV repeated times during pregnancy. This study highlights significant associations between IPV and maternal perceptions of husbands' behaviours and involvement in pregnancy. Findings may help to identify at-risk pregnant women to IPV and guide the development of targeted interventions to prevent IPV from husbands.