Factors affecting domestic violence against women in Iran: a scoping review

Domestic violence (DV) is the most common form of violence against women with the most social, psychological and economic consequences. Various factors affect DV against women. Several studies were conducted in Iran, each of which focused on a part or level of factors affecting DV. Therefore, this scoping review was conducted to determine the factors affecting violence against women in Iran.

In this scoping review study, databases Magiran, IranDoc, Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC), Scientific Information Database (SID) were used to collect studies published in Persian and databases PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Web of Science from the beginning to June 2024 were searched. Google Scholar search engine was used to find relevant sources and complete the search coverage. The process of searching and selecting studies was drawn using PRISMA Diagram. To analyze the data, according to the evidence, the main factors and sub-factors were extracted by two authors independently. Then the data was sifted and sorted.

Out of 491 identified studies, 81 were included in this study; the sample size of these studies was 42,239. Based on the obtained results, 6 main factors and 21 sub-factors affecting DV against women are: individual factors (age, education, marriage, and children), social factors (addiction, interference of others, history of violence, divorce, family structure, marital relationship, social class, and social capital), psychological factors, pregnancy factors, economic factors (income, employment, residence status, economic class, and economic status) and cultural factors (patriarchy, tradition, cultural development, and ethnicity).

The results of our study showed that several factors are effective on domestic violence against women, so policy makers and health system managers should look for solutions to reduce this health and social problem. Factors such as the expansion of counseling and treatment centers in comprehensive health service centers, life skills training, interventions appropriate to cultures and social norms, and the implementation of campaigns to increase awareness of DV are particularly important in reducing this phenomenon in society.