| dc.description.abstract | Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is pervasive, but under-reported by victims because of
the associated stigma and fear of reprisals. In Nigeria, there is paucity of information on
IPV burden among female university students. This study was therefore designed to
assess the prevalence and determinants of IPV experienced by female students in the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
The study was cross-sectional in design. A four-stage sampling technique was used in
selecting the female halls (two undergraduate and one postgraduate), blocks, rooms, and
an occupant selected by balloting in each room. A total of 1,100 undergraduate and 255
postgraduate female students were selected. A 43-item self-administered structured
questionnaire was used to collect data on the sociodemographic characteristics,
prevalence, types, determinants, awareness, and health consequences of IPV. Data were
analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression at p = 0.05 .
The mean age of the respondents was 22.8±3.9 years (postgraduate mean: 24.3±3.2 years;
undergraduate mean: 20.1±3.2 years) and majority (93.8%) were single. Respondents
comprised Yoruba (61.7%), Igbo (24.6%), Hausa (3.6%) and others (10.1%). The
proportions of respondents who smoked, consumed alcohol and had a family history of
IPV were 6.6%, 22.8% and 26.9% respectively. The life-time prevalence of IPV was
42.3% (postgraduate: 34.5%; undergraduate: 44.1 %) and those for psychological,
physical and sexual IPV were 41.8%, 7.9% and 6.6% respectively. Majority (61.9%) of
the respondents who were aware of IPV did not experience it. Respondents who were
less likely to have experienced IPV were postgraduate (OR= 0.64; 95% CI: 0.46-0.87),
and married (OR= 0.53; 95% CI: 0.35-0.78) students. Life-time prevalence of IPV was
higher among the undergraduates (OR=3.82; 95% CI: 1.08-13.40); smokers (OR= 2.46;
95% Cl: 1.58-3.83); alcohol consumers (OR= 2.36; 95% Cl: 1.82- 3.06 ); and those with
family history of IPV (OR= 2.40; 95% CI: 1.88- 3.07). Recent experience (within the
last one year) of violence was also more frequently reported by respondents who had a
previous history of physical (62.5%) (OR= 2.65; 95% CI: 2.02-3.49) and sexual (53.2%)
(OR= 1.63; 95% CI:1.12-2.35) violence. Injuries were sustained by sixty (4.4%) of the
IPV victims and these included minor abrassions (60.7%), sprains (17.9%), and facial
injuries (15.4%). Adverse effects of IPV on academic performance were reported by
10.3% of victims and these included loss of concentration (71.4%), interruption of studies
(17.9%), loss of self-esteem (6.4%) and school absenteeism (4.3%). Majority (60.9%) of
the victims of IPV did not seek help. Those who sought help went mainly to religious
leaders (12.5%), hospitals (10.5%) and family members (4.9%).
The prevalence of intimate partner violence among the female students of the University
of Ibadan was high, and the major predicting factors were low level of awareness, family
history and previous history of physical and sexual violence. There is the need to design
interventions to address modifiable risk factors like smoking and alcohol consumption,
and encourage health seeking in order to reduce vulnerability and related health
consequences. | en_US |
