Pilot survey of domestic abuse amongst pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic in a public hospital in Gauteng Province in South Africa

Backgroundviolence against women is a major contributor to the ill health of women. It can affect women and may lead to pregnancy complications or adverse birth outcomes.Purposeto identify and outline domestic abuse amongst pregnant women, thereby providing preliminary data to justify the need for an abuse screening programme in the antenatal clinic.Methoda quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional survey. Data collection was undertaken through purposive sampling of pregnant mothers and the use of questionnaires in the form of structured interviews.Findingsthe overall prevalence of domestic abuse amongst pregnant women was 41%. When categorized by type of abuse, the prevalence rates were: emotional abuse, 26%; physical abuse, 17%; both physical and emotional abuse, 5%; and sexual abuse, 9%.Conclusionsthere is a high prevalence of domestic abuse amongst pregnant women and there is a need for abuse assessment screening during antenatal care for all pregnant women.