Reviewer's report
Title:Prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence towards female
students of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Version: 1Date:14 May 2013
Reviewer: Jennifer Katz
Reviewer's report:
Prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence towards female
students of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.'
Joseph E Umana, Olufunmilayo I Fawole and Ikeola A Adeoye
BMC Women's Health
The current study describes prevalence and correlates of intimate partner
violence (IPV) IPV among college women in Nigeria. I appreciate that the
authors’ seek to better understand this important problem within a sample of
women who is rarely studied in the research literature. Strengths of the current
work include the large sample, the sophisticated sampling methods used, and
the assessment mu'ltiple forms of IPV both within the past 12 months and
throughout the participants’ lives.
Major Compulsory Revisions
1. Despite these strengths, this report seems incomplete. The authors do not
provide critical information both about the measure of IPV and about the
procedure that was used to collect these data. Specifically, the authors state that
the measure of IPV was adapted from the questionnaire used in the WHO
Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women,
but it is unclear what adaptations they made. What types of experiences
“counted” as psychological, physical, or sexual abuse, and what did not? Were
participants asked about multiple romantic partners, or just the current or more
recent one? In terms of lifetime experiences, it is unclear if those incidents were
perpetrated by a romantic partner or, in the case of childhood abuse, a caregiver.
I’m also uncertain about the method in which these data were collected. The
authors state that data were collected via interviews conducted by trained
research assistants. Who were these assistants? Why were interviews
conducted if the data on IPV was collected via self-administered questionnaire?
Much more specific information about the measurement of IPV and the methods
used to collect this information is needed.
2. In addition to these methodological issues, the authors seem to misrepresent
women’s behaviors such as alcohol use and cigarette smoking as “determinants”
of IPV throughout the paper. In truth, these data were collected cross-sectionally,
which suggests that these are correlates, not predictors. Furthermore, the
authors imply behaviors create IPV risk, when in fact, the direction of effect in
cross-sectional designs is not clear. For example, some research suggests that
women who experience IPV are at greater risk for negative health behaviors as a
result (e.g., Brener, McMahon, Warren, & Douglas, 1999). In such cases, the
alcohol or cigarette use might be conceptualized as a consequence of IPV, not a
determinant of it.
3. The discussion of women’s perpetration behaviors also seems incomplete.
There was no rationale for studying women’s perpetration in the introduction. In
addition, without more information about the assessment of IPV, it’s difficult to
interpret these data. To what degree are women perpetrating violence against
non-violent partners? To what degree does women’s perpetration reflect mutual
violence or even self-defense? Are perpetration behaviors occurring within one or
multiple relationships?
Minor Essential Revisions
The manuscript would benefit from proofreading
I hope these comments are of use to the authors
Reference
Brener, N. D., McMahon, P. M., Warren, C. W., & Douglas, K. A. (1999). Forced
sexual intercourse and associated health risk behaviors: among female college
students in the United States. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67,
252-259.
Level of interest: An article of insufficient interest to warrant publication in a
scientific/medical journal
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests