Assessment of Violence during COVID-19 among Reproductive Age Women in Arsi Zone, South East Ethiopia

Background. Preventive measures, like staying at home during lockdown, are mandatory during the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly as a result of staying at home, violence against women is beginning to increase in correlation with these measures. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of violence against women of reproductive age during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arsi Zone. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed from February 15 to March 30, 2021. A multistage sampling technique was used to recruit 1458 women aged 15-49 years old. Data entry was performed using Epi info-7 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. A logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with violence against women at p value AOR=3.36 ; 95% CI: 2.14–5.30), witnessed chilhood family violence ( AOR=2.34 ; 95% CI: 1.81–3.02), and decisions made on the household issue by husband only ( AOR=2.62 ; 95% CI: 2.01–3.41) or wife only ( AOR=1.99 ; 95% CI: 1.33–2.98) were significantly associated with violence against women. In addition, we found that participants whose partners cannot read and write ( AOR=2.63 ; 95% CI: 1.19– 5.81), drink alcohol ( AOR=2.78 ; 95% CI: 2.10–3.76), chew chat ( AOR=3.27 ; 95% CI: 2.21–4.85), ever fighting or aggressive with other men ( AOR=2.73 ; 95% CI: 1.51–4.95), and partners’ families taking part in the decision making ( AOR=2.32 ; 95% CI: 1.49–3.62) were also associated with violence against women. Conclusions. One in every two women was the victim of any form of violence in the study area. Hence, empowering women’s economic status and enhancing community-based health education for males on behavioral lifestyle modification were required to prevent violence against women.