[Under the shadow of maternity: pregnancy, suicidal ideation, and intimate partner violence].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between intimate partner violence and indicators of suicidal ideation during the current pregnancy.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional observational study developed with 358 pregnant women selected by systematic random sampling in Ribeirão Preto, southeastern Brazil. The Back Suicidal Ideation Scale and an adapted version of the instrument used in the World Health Organization Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence were used to identify indicators of suicidal ideation and psychological, physical, and sexual acts of intimate partner violence during the current pregnancy. Multiple logistic regression was used to obtain adjusted prevalence odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS

The prevalence of indicators of suicidal ideation was 7.8%. Of the participants, 17.6% reported some type of intimate partner violence during the current pregnancy. Among these, 95.2% reported having suffered psychological violence, 36.5% physical violence, and 1.6% sexual violence. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that women exposed to violence were 6.29 times more likely to have indicators of suicidal ideation.

CONCLUSIONS

Policy makers and health care providers must be made aware of the impact of intimate partner violence, including in terms of suicidal ideation, especially during pregnancy. The adoption of simple measures, such as the scales used in the present study, may provide information regarding the extent of intimate partner violence and suicidal ideation in health care services.