Domestic Violence
Domestic violence poses a direct threat to women and places children at risk. It also has
consequences, both direct and indirect, on women's health and well being. For example, women who
experience domestic violence are less likely to receive early antenatal care, are more likely to
experience pregnancy loss, and their children are at greater risk of mortality.
Scientific investigation of the problem of domestic violence is a relatively recent endeavor; it is
only within the past 20 years that violence against women has been widely acknowledged as a threat
to the health and rights of women and to national development.
Domestic Violence Module
The MEASURE DHS program began to collect information on the prevalence of domestic violence against women in the early 1990s. However, it was not until the late 1990s that MEASURE DHS, in consultation with experts, developed a standard domestic violence module of questions. Although this module is typically used to obtain information from women on their experience of violence, a few countries have recently also used it to obtain information on violence against men.
The DHS
Domestic Violence Module collects information on the following indicators:
- Experience of physical violence since age 15
- Forced first sex
- Experience of sexual violence ever
- Violence during any pregnancy
- Experience of emotional, physical, or sexual violence by current (or most recent) husband
- Frequency of spousal violence
- Timing of initiation of spousal violence is initiated
- Violence by woman against their husband
- Whether and from whom help was sought
Today, comparable information on the prevalence of domestic violence against women is available in
well over 25 countries.
Understanding Domestic Violence
Scientific investigation of the problem of domestic violence is a relatively recent endeavor; it
is only within the past 30 years that violence against women has been widely acknowledged as a
threat to the health and rights of women and to national development.
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Ethical Data Collection
With the recognition of violence against women as a global problem came the need for the development of methodologies to collect data on violence ethically and in a manner that maximizes the validity and reliability of the data. MEASURE DHS is committed to meeting the highest ethical and safety standards for the collection of data on domestic violence. Accordingly, MEASURE DHS has its own developed guidelines for the collection of domestic violence data based on the World Health Organization's ethical and safety recommendations for research on domestic violence.
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