Attitudes of women towards intimate partner violence in Guyana: A cross-sectional analytical study

To assess the attitudes of women towards intimate partner violence (IPV) in Guyana.

We used national data from the publicly available Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted in Guyana in 2019 for women aged 15 to 49 years. The prevalence of women who agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife was analyzed. Respondent reasons included if she: "goes out without telling him", "neglects the children", "argues with him", "refuses sex with him", "burns the food", "has another partner", "stays out late/partying", "refuses to cook or clean", "overspends", and/or "he doesn't have access to her cellphone". Descriptive analyses were carried for all the variables. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with these 10 respondent reasons, separately and in combination.

The overall prevalence of women's attitudes justifying IPV against women if there was a 'yes' response to any of the 10 reasons was 17.9% (95%CI: 16.6-19.3%), and varied from 2.7% if she "goes out without telling him", "burns the food", or "overspends" to 10.0% if she "has another partner". This prevalence ranged from 10.2% in urban areas to 19.3% in rural areas (p<0.001), and from 16.1% in coastal to 30.1% in interior areas (p<0.001). Similarly, 25.9% of women from the poorest household agreed that a husband has the right in beating his wife for any of the 10 reasons compared to 11.6% of the richest women (11.6%) (p<0.001). Rural place of residence, ethnicity, geographic region, level of education, wealth quintile, ever used of a computer, and frequency of listening to the radio were significant factors associated with women's attitudes justifying IPV against women (p<0.05).

Over one-sixth of the respondents agreed that a husband was justified in committing IPV against women in Guyana. Public health programs focusing on geographic locations, ethnicity, and economic status must be implemented to change attitudes justifying IPV and reduce this significant public health challenge.