Abstract

GONZALEZ LOZOYA, Inmaculada et al. Experience in gender violence in the general population within the Primary Care setting. Rev Clin Med Fam [online]. 2010, vol.3, n.2, pp.104-109. ISSN 2386-8201.

Objectives. To determine the prevalence of gender violence in the general population in the primary care setting and its association with sociodemographic factors and other personal experience. Design. Cross-sectional, observational, descriptive study. Setting. Urban primary care centres. Participants. Patients aged 18 years or over who attended the Primary Care centre. Main measurements. An ad hoc designed questionnaire that included questions on experience of domestic violence and the short version of the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST), were used. Sociodemographic variables and knowledge and attitudes towards gender violence were also collected. Results. A total of 673 persons responded to the questionnaires. Of the 662 subjects who answered the question on whether they had suffered any type of abuse by their partner, 75 answered affirmatively (11.48%; 95% CI: 8.98-13.98%). This response was more probable in widowed or separated subjects (p<0.00001). Amongst young people there was a predominance of not having suffered abuse (p=0.01). There were no differences regarding the other sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression analysis revealed that age was the only variable that demonstrated an independent association with having suffered gender violence (OR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.005 - 1.036). A total of 560 responses were obtained in the WAST questionnaire and 12.0% were positive (95% CI; 9.2 - 14.7%). Its concordance with the question on history of domestic violence was very low (Kappa: 0.153; 95% CI: 0.038-0.243). In the case of previous abuse, in answer to the question "What did you do? the most frequent response was to get away from the aggressor. Up to 42.1% said they knew someone who was a victim of gender violence. Conclusions. In the primary care setting there is frequent contact with persons suffering gender violence. There are a considerable number of persons who admit to being abused.

Keywords : Domestic Violence; Primary Health Care.

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