Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Intimate Partner Violence as a factor in Contraceptive Discontinuation among Sexually  
Active Married Women in Nigeria  
 
Version: 0 Date: 03 Jul 2019  
 
Reviewer: chidebe Anikwe  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Dear Editor,  
 
Thanks for the opportunity to review th is study entitled: Intimate Partner Violence and 
Contraceptive Discontinuation among Sexually Active Married Women in Nigeria. Intimate 
partner violence is a social vice which affects a woman's life including the use of any family 
method as argued by the a uthor. The study will contribute to knowledge but there are some 
fundamental issues that need to be addressed by the author. Apart from grammatical errors other 
issues are as enumerated below:  
 
1. Title - "Intimate Partner Violence and Contraceptive Discont inuation among Sexually 
Active Married Women in Nigeria" I think the title is not suitable for the study and changes 
should be made to address it. The study tried to discuss the factors affecting contraceptive 
discontinuation among sexually active married women in Nigeria. IPV is just a subset of these 
factors; this fact is made available in the result section and discussion of the study.  
 
2. Abstract - Background is bogus and modification should be made on it; Methods - what 
is the meaning of 'weighted"; R esults - this should be modified. I think there is a need for the 
author to add the confidence interval, the actual p value should be stated instead of p &lt;0.05. 
Some of the odd ratios and their 95%CI of other factors affecting contraceptive use ought to be 
brought out  
 
3. Conclusion - This should be modified, should report the findings of the study.    "This 
study concludes that program tailored towards increasing contraceptive prevalence rate in 
Nigeria should be mindful of various types of IPV which may  affect women's use of 
contraceptive" I fail to see the study concluding that ……  
 
4. Background - should be modified and made more coherent. There are some statement 
that are not referenced, some phrases with some repetition of same idea. Examples 
"Contrace ptives are devices or drugs planned to reduce or prevent high -risk, mistimed, and 
unintended pregnancy" "However, this depends on the type of methods" "However, IPV may 
have motivated some women who experienced IPV to avoid pregnancy in one way or the othe r, 
particularly if they have access to unnoticeable methods of contraception that can be used 
secretly"  
"Methods" - which method?; The aim and objectives of this study need to be properly stated in 
the background section  
5. Methods - what about the study area? A brief account should be given concerning the 
NDHS data used. What is the meaning of "Details of the data collection technique have been 
published elsewhere"?; Data collection is confusing and ought to be made clearer; was ethical 
approval gotten? W hat is the number? Was ethical approval obtained from Nigerian 
government? If not what are the reasons?  
 
6. Results - what should be used to judge whether an odd ratio is significant? OR5.99 
95%CI1.13 -31.61 (precision is poor) and so on, are they significa nt?  
A table describing the socio demographics characteristics of women should be added, reflecting 
women that had IPV/and those didn't have IPV  
 
Bivariate and Multivariate Analyses  
"The unadjusted odds ratios in Table 2 shows….." I think it in table 3, pl ease correct  
"Little significant association" - what is the meaning of this.  
There seems to be a repetition of the result already in the table and write up, please modify  
Results should be presented only but the seems to be discussing his finding and mod ifications 
should be made  
"Nigeria DHS Data shows a stagnant contraceptive prevalence rate of currently  
married women 15 -49 who are currently using contraception in Nigeria (2003 - 
2013)" is it part of result?  
 
7. Discussion - there is organization of the section  
Highlighted the fact that this study is not entirely about IPV and contraceptives discontinuation 
and I think it should be reflected in the title, introduction and abstract. Sentences should be 
complete and  thought should flow. "The 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 
data on women who experienced IPV in the past 12 months in the domestic violence module 
along with data from the reproductive calendar on contraceptive use were used for this stud y" - 
should not be in discussion; conclusion should be revised to reflect the study findings.  
 
 
Are the methods ap propriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I recommend additional statistical review  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscr ipt: 
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation that may  in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose  
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either n ow or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds  or has applied for patents relating t o the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing int erests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
i declare that i have no competing interests  
 
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