title: [Types and severity of partner violence against women living in the community in Cali, Colombia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Identifying the incidence and severity of types of intimate partner violence against women exposed to this in their communities and the pertinent socio-demographic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 150 women suffering intimate partner violence. The Severity of Violence Against Women Scale was used to explore demographic variables, e.g. age, sex, socioeconomic status, educational level, marital status and occupation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age was 37 years, 74 % were mestizos, 68 % were living in socioeconomic groups 2 and 3, 43 % were living with a permanent partner and 31 % had experienced violence by other people than their intimate partner. There was high exposure (96.3 %) to more than one type of violence; 88% had suffered physical and 53 % sexual threats. All types were correlated with each other (r ranged from 0.42 to 0.84 (p <0.01)). Socioeconomic status had a significant negative correlation with threats of violence (p><0.01) and positive correlation with physical violence (p><0.01); other socio-demographic variables did not correlate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychosocial factors are heavily involved in the phenomenon. Screening and intervening in forms of violence other than physical ones means protecting women and reducing the harm being done to them and alleviating their suffering. It is vital that interventions should be undertaken for preventing different types of violence according to socioeconomic group and accompany women and their assailants in recognising such violence and seeking help.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Enfermería, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. delia.burgos@ correounivalle.edu.co
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burgos
authors.forename: Gladys E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Canaval
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tobo
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bernal de Pheils
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Humphreys
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003105:Colombia; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012923:Social Class; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult