With the Compliments of Springer Publishing Company, LLC partner abuse New Directions in Research, Intervention, and Policy SPRINGER/ PUBLISHING COMPANY www.springerpub.com/pa
Partner Abuse, Volume 8, Number 1, 2017 Situational Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence Interventions in South Asian and Middle Eastern Countries Unaiza Niaz, MD, DPM, FRCPsych Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan Sehar-un-nisa Hassan, PhD National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan Qudsia Tariq, PhD University of Karachi, Pakistan It is vital to identify forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by women and men in intimate relations, their underlying causes, and the im- pact on their own lives and the society. Research on victimization of women is ample; however, men's victimization in intimate relations is a neglected area of research in many world regions, thus requiring more attention. Among the common psychosocial factors correlated with IPV, specific social, economic, and cultural factors in South Asian and Middle Eastern countries increase women's vulnerability to face and bear the detrimental consequences of IPV. The review of existing literature and interviews with 16 notable agencies in Pakistan indi- cate that most of the existing intervention programs in these countries focus on providing legal and psychosocial support to female victims. In addition, there is lack of adequate evaluation or proper documentation of the activities and outcomes of intervention programs. These findings strongly suggest that fur- ther research on structured perpetrators programs in this part of the world is needed. KEYWORDS: intimate partner violence; partner abuse; risk factors; victimization; perpetrator inter- vention program 47 C 2017 Springer Publishing Company http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/1946-6560.8.1.47 Copyright @ Springer Publishing Company, LLC
48 Niaz et al. In South Asian societies, intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most com- mon forms of family violence that includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and controlling behaviors by an intimate partner. IPV occurs in almost all settings, all- socioeconomic, religious, and cultural groups. Although women can equally be violent in relationships with men, and violence also occurs in the same-sex partnerships, in many countries, the most common perpetrators of violence against women are male intimate partners. The problem is so common and widespread that it has almost become an invisible form of crime and an everyday story in many households. IPV has been found to be a widespread phenomenon in developing countries, as repeatedly indicated by World Health Organization (WHO) survey reports in the past decade (Abramsky et al., 2011; García-Moreno, Jansen, Ellsberg, Heise, & Watts, 2005; Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg & Zwi, 2002; WHO, 2013). Similar findings have been published by local organizations in Pakistan (Aurat Foundation, 2011; Human Rights Commission of Pakistan [HRCP], 2013; National Institute of Population Studies [NIPS] & ICF International, 2013), in South Asian countries (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2007; National Insti- tute of Population Research and Training [NIPORT], 2009; Panda & Agarwal, 2005), and in Middle Eastern countries (Douki, Nacef, Belhadj, Bouasker, & Ghachem, 2003). The Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS-2005; El-Zanaty & Way, 2006) showed women are at increased risk