title: Adverse health effects of spousal violence among women attending Saudi Arabian primary health-care clinics.
abstract: This study aimed to investigate the frequency of spousal violence among Saudi women and document the related health effects and injuries, as well as their attitudes to gender and violence. Structured interviews were conducted with 200 ever-married women recruited from primary-care centres in Jeddah. Nearly half of the surveyed women (44.5%) reported ever experiencing physical violence from their spouse. Although 37 women (18.5%) had received violence-related injuries, only 6.5% had reported these injuries to a health-care provider. Victims of spousal violence had poor perceptions of their overall health, and reported pain or discomfort, antidepressant use and suicidal thoughts. Women mostly disagreed with the presented justifications for wife-beating. However, the association between gender attitudes and spousal violence was not significant. The results of this study support calls for integration of education about partner violence into health-care curricula to enhance the access and quality of services.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Eldoseri
authors.affiliation: College of Health Sciences, Old Dominion University, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Tufts
authors.affiliation: College of Health Sciences, Old Dominion University, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Arts and Letters, Old Dominion University, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Fish
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014933:Women's Rights / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D055815:Young Adult