Purpose: To measure the lifetime prevalence of physical, emotional, and sexual Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in women attending general practice in Spain and to assess sociodemographic factors associated with the different types of abuse.
Methods: The sample included 1402 randomly selected women, aged 18 to 65 years, attending general practice in three Spanish regions. A self-administered structured questionnaire specifically developed for the study was used. Given the overlap between the different types of lifetime abuse, various categories were created by combining the different types. Multiple logistic regression models were developed to identify the sociodemographic factors independently associated with the different categories of abuse.
Results: Lifetime prevalence of IPV was 32%, and 14.4% referred having experienced emotional abuse alone. Factors independently associated with all categories of abuse included being separated/divorced/widowed, having three or more children, and lacking social support. Increasing age was protective for physical and emotional abuse (odds ratio = 0.96; 95% confidence interval = 0.93-0.99). Women with the lowest monthly family income (< 600 euro) (1 euro = 1.32 euro) were most likely to experience all IPV categories, except for emotional abuse alone.
Conclusions: IPV is a common problem in general practice. The identification of factors associated with this public health problem is essential for its prevention and treatment.