Correlation between Domestic Violence and Family Planning Attitude among Migrant Women in Turkey

Background: This study was conducted for the purpose of determining the effect of violence against women upon the attitudes of immigrant women toward family planning.

Methods: It is a cross-sectional and descriptive study. The smallest number of study sample was determined as 383. Four hundred fifteen married women aged 15-49, who applied to the aforementioned FHCs and accepted to participate in the study, were included in the study. The research data were collected by using a “Women’s Information Form”, “Scale for Domestic Violence against Women (SDVW)” and “Family Planning Attitude Scale”.

Results: It was determined that 46.7% of women were in the age group of 21-30, 44.1% were primary school graduates, 46.5% had migrated at least eleven years before, 63.1% had migrated from the Eastern Anatolia Region and 37.3% had migrated due to family and relatives. The score averages of women were determined as 74.87±10.01 in the Scale for Domestic Violence against Women and 108.96±17.92 in the Family Planning Attitude Scale. As a result of the correlation analysis that was performed between the score averages of the Scale for Domestic Violence against Women and the Family Planning Attitude Scale; a negative, moderate and significant relationship was determined (r=-0.329, p<0.001).

Conclusion: It could be suggested that as violence against immigrant women increases, their attitudes toward family planning are affected negatively. As a result of this study; it was determined that violence against immigrant women negatively affected the attitudes of women toward family planning and their state of using reproductive healthcare services.