The effect of women’s communication skills on domestic violence

Abstract

Background: Violence against women as domestic violence is a mental health problem in women, present in all countries. Overlooking this problem could entail irremediable harms to mother and child health. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 385 married women from Karchagan-Lenjan, Iran, during 2015-2016. Needed information were gathered via using two questionnaires involving violence dimension and measurements on knowledge, attitude, and action of women toward domestic violence and their communication skills, as well. Findings: Mean score (SD) of women’s knowledge toward domestic violence was 7.62 ± 2.90 and was higher than average. No significant difference was seen between mean extent of violence in couples with equal level of education and couples with different levels of education (P = 0.500). Total violence and its components had reverse significant association with total communication skills and verbal skills (P < 0.050). In addition, physical violence among husbands had direct association with number of children and feedback skills and reverse association with husbands’ level of education of and verbal skill. Conclusion: Using communication skills could lower couple contention or, at least, defer it to a better time. Obviously, verbal skill is the most important and effective way in establishing and management of relations. Our findings show that improving the communication skills in women could reduce the violence, especially physical violence, against them. © 2017, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.