Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women, and Lived Experiences of Family Violence and Abuse During Childhood in Rural Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Programming.

BACKGROUND

Violence against women (VAW) has remained an increasingly significant public health problem globally. This study explored childhood experiences of abuse and attitude towards violence against women among adults in a rural community in South-east Nigeria.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a rural community in Ebonyi, Nigeria. Data were collected from 280 respondents using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.

RESULTS

The mean age of the male participants was 46.5±16.8, while that for the female participants was 43.3±16.9. Most were females (203/280, 72.5%), out of which (83/203, 40.9%) had secondary school as the highest level of education attained. Most participants were females (203/280, 72.5%), married (225/280, 80.4%) with secondary school education (124/280, 44.3%). More than one-tenth (33/280, 11.8%) had ever witnessed parental violence, while 46.4% had been physically abused in childhood. Forced touching and penetrative sex was experienced sometimes by 11.4% (32/280) and 21.8% (61/289), respectively. Overall, the majority (258/280, 92.8%) had a disapproving attitude towards gender-based violence. Most participants disagreed that hitting or insulting woman was not wrong (246/280, 87.9%). The majority of the respondents agreed that women were inferior to men from a cultural perspective (175/280, 62.5%). Almost half strongly agreed (125/2280, 44.6%) and agreed (118/280, 42.1%) that a woman is a man's possession. The predictors of attitude were secondary school education (AOR = 7.74, 95% CI = 1.69-35.54) and monogamous marital setting (AOR = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.08-7.42).

CONCLUSION

This study showed that Nigerian adults had high levels of childhood exposures to family violence, physical and sexual abuse. Overall, the majority disapproved of VAW; however, there were gaps that endorsed patriarchal ideologies. Interventions to address VAW should include components targeted at children exposed to violence and de-bunking patriarchal ideologies that encourage VAW.