Disability and intimate partner violence: A cross-sectional study from Mwanza, Tanzania

Background: Women with disabilities are at heightened risk of experiencing intimate partner violence [IPV], although the mechanisms through which disability acts as a risk factor for IPV are not clear.Objective: We analyzed cross-sectional data (n 1/4 867) from Wave 3 of the MAISHA longitudinal study, conducted in Mwanza, Tanzania, to i) describe the levels of disability and IPV amongst women, and ii) to assess the association between level and type of disability and IPV experience.Methods: IPV was assessed using the WHO Multi-Country study instrument. Levels of disability (none, mild and severe) were categorized based on responses to the Washington Group Short Set questions. We fitted logistic regression models to determine the risk of experiencing each type of IPV according to disability level and type of disability.Results: We found significant associations between mild and severe disability and different types of IPV. For example, in multivariate analyses controlling for socio-demographic variables, women reporting severe disability were significantly more likely to report physical and/or sexual IPV, sexual IPV. controlling behaviors, economic IPV, and severe IPV, whereas for mild disability compared to no disability, physical and/or sexual IPV, sexual IPV, and economic IPV were significantly more likely to be reported. Cognitive disability was a significant correlate of all forms of IPV apart from physical IPV. Conclusions: Our findings that specific types of disability and not others were associated with an elevated risk of IPV exposure indicate the need for nuanced measurement and analysis of the association between disability and IPV.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Women with disabilities are at increased risk of intimate partner violence (IPV), but the mechanisms are unclear. This study analyzed data from a longitudinal study in Mwanza, Tanzania to describe disability and IPV levels among women, and assess the association between disability level/type and IPV experience. The findings highlight the need for nuanced measurement and analysis in understanding the association between disability and IPV.