Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Health Educ Behav. 2019 Dec;46(6):969-980. doi: 10.1177/1090198119859420. Epub 2019 Jul 18.
Few studies have examined the relationships between intimate partner violence (IPV) and the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of women in sub-Saharan countries in general and Ghana specifically. This study began to fill the gap by investigating whether individual- and community-level IPV influenced unwanted pregnancy and pregnancy loss among women in Ghana. Nationally representative cross-sectional data were collected from 2,289 ever-married women, and multilevel modeling was used to estimate individual- and community-level effects. At the individual level, IPV was significantly associated with unwanted pregnancy and pregnancy loss. Women with experience of both physical and sexual violence were more likely to have reported an unwanted pregnancy and a pregnancy loss. However, only those experiencing sexual violence reported unwanted pregnancies. Similarly, community-level IPV was associated with sexual health outcomes. Respondents in communities with higher levels of sexual violence were significantly more likely to have had unwanted pregnancies. The findings corroborate calls for policy makers to consider IPV a reproductive health issue. They also emphasize the need to move beyond individual-level interventions to consider structural and community contexts when addressing the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of women in Ghana.
鲜有研究调查过在撒哈拉以南非洲国家和加纳，一般的亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）与妇女的性健康和生殖健康结果之间的关系。本研究通过调查个体和社区层面的 IPV 是否会影响加纳妇女的意外怀孕和流产，开始填补这一空白。从 2289 名已婚妇女中收集了具有全国代表性的横断面数据，并使用多层次模型来估计个体和社区层面的影响。在个体层面，IPV 与意外怀孕和流产显著相关。经历过身体和性暴力的妇女更有可能报告意外怀孕和流产。然而，只有经历过性暴力的妇女报告了意外怀孕。同样，社区层面的 IPV 与性健康结果相关。在性暴力程度较高的社区中，意外怀孕的受访者比例显著更高。这些发现证实了政策制定者将 IPV 视为生殖健康问题的呼吁。它们还强调，在解决加纳妇女的性健康和生殖健康结果时，需要超越个体层面的干预措施，考虑结构和社区背景。
