Intimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking Among Ethiopian Women

Although intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread phenomenon in Ethiopia, the relationship between help-seeking sources and IPV is not well understood. Better understanding of this relationship could play a role in preventing IPV. We used data collected in the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey and limited our study to women who have ever been married, aged 15 to 49 years (n = 4469). Overall, the proportions of women who have ever experienced emotional abuse, physical, or sexual violence were 24%, 23.1%, and 10.1%. Women who sought informal help (family) were 2.42 times more likely (OR = 2.42; CI 1.29-4.55) to have ever experienced emotional abuse than women who did not seek family help. Neither formal nor informal help-seeking significantly associated with physical or sexual violence. The results may indicate difficulties women face in seeking help and cultural and social norms that tolerate IPV as an acceptable part of family life in Ethiopia.