Invisibilidade da violência contra gestantes praticadas pelo parceiro íntimo: estudo em uma unidade básica do Distrito Federal

Abstract

Introduction: The Intimate partner violence (IPV) against pregnant women is a frequent event, whose consequences affect directly the women’s health. Objective: Identify the occurrence of IPV among pregnant women enrolled in prenatal care at a basic health unit in the Santa Maria, Brazil/DF, and therefore to meet the violence experiences lived by these women. Method: The study incorporated triangulation, used quantitative and qualitative techniques in data collection and analysis. A total of 178 pregnant women participated in the questionnaire and 6 of them were invited to the interview. The data was subjected to statistical tests to verify associations of variables to the experiences of violence and the context analysis of the interviews. Results: the prevalence of violence at some point in life was 33% and during pregnancy 20.6%, which the most recurrent was the psychological violence (16%). The current or former intimate partner were the main perpetrators of violence (75%). The experience of violence was associated with race (p-value = 0.0105), having an intimate partner (p-value = 0.0067), number of pregnancies (p-value = 0.0105), having used drugs before (p-value = 0307) and during pregnancy (p-value = 0.0092), have experienced violence in their lifetime (p-value <0.0001), being afraid of partner behavior (p-value = 0.0002) and having identified health problems due to violence (p-value = 0.040 ). The qualitative analysis show that during pregnancy the violence started and / or intensified (71% of the cases). Subjects argued that remained in same situation because of fear (30%) and intimate partner threats (22%). Pregnant women adopted the strategy to abandon their homes as the main way to deal with the violence (45%). The harmful use of psychoactive substances by the partner was the most expressive (41%) among the factors associated with the occurrence of violence. The main impact on maternal health was emotional stress of the pregnant women (34%). Violence against pregnant women was not addressed during prenatal care to health professionals (83%). Conclusions: Violence against pregnant women still shows to be underestimated in the context of primary care. It is argued that approach to IPV should be included in the pregnancy care during prenatal, accompanied by effective interventions to handle prevention, protection and health promotion