Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Violence against housemaids in an Ethiopian town during the early phase
of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
Version: 
1 
Date: 
15 Feb 2022
Reviewer: 
Bedilu Abate
Reviewer's report:
Dear BMC Women's health editorial Office,
I am thankful to the editorial office for the chance given to me to review a
manuscript titled "Violence against housemaids in an Ethiopian town during the
COVID-19 pandemic". The study is useful to escalate the health of women in
general and for those women who are living in the rural areas. The following are
my general and specific objectives;
1. General Comments
It is great and recommended work of RH.
Needs minor revision. 
2. Specific Comments
2.1. On the abstract Section
 The P value should be < 0.05.
 Where is the psychologic violence in particular?
 Where is the occurrence of all the two [three?] forms of violence?
 Describe the confidence interval.
 No key words after presenting the prevalence.
 Is age 19-23 re-categorized age?
 Sexual violence had occurred in not 'one in four' rather it is 'one in fifth' of the
study participants since it was 21.4%. 
 Include Kombolcha in the key words. 
2.2. On the introduction Section
* Not well mentioned Ethiopian studies
* It needs revision
* Reason and adverse outcomes of co-occurrence of COVID 19 and domestic
violence.
* Exaggerate ambition of implications of the study.
2.3. 
On the Methods Section
o The study settings lack reference.
o The sample size 
was calculated (1) by old literature which was 2002 (2) there
are ample studies of violence in Ethiopia even among special population like the
pregnant women, refugee and PLWHA and 
(3) you had used for especial
pandemic phenomena and others. 
o Most of the time we use the WHO multi country study tool and it is common
in the recent literatures. Why you prefer to mix with other tool? It also
incorporates STIs including HIV?
o Give us more emphasis on how you have assured the quality of data.
o Year of experience of home maids to classify as home maid?
o Why you prefer to conduct in Kombolcha town?
o What are the variables included in the physical and sexual violence and the
criteria's for it?
2.4. 
On The Results and Discussion Section
2.5. 
On The Results Section
The tables are not self-explanatory. Add n=215 at the end.
If married. What are the household sizes? Or number of children?
Place of birth and duration of being home maid is not mentioned.
You have presented eight tables in the results section. I prefer for you to present
only four of the tables and the remaining can be presented in the supplementary
material. 
Don't use the word 'predictor' for cross sectional study.
2.6. On The Discussion Section
* In the first paragraph the reason behind the discrepancy between yours and
other studies finding is not explained.
* What are the implications of your study? Did physical and sexual violence
remain the same, increased or decreased before and during the COVID 19 era?
* Is this credible? "This is consistent with other studies which demonstrate that
430 violence is a common problem in Ethiopian families, where male
domination and female 431 subordination are the cultural norm [1]."
3. Statistics
* By the way have you used sum score or?
* Is the data normally distributed?
* P value should be <0.05
* Frequencies in the table are not similar with their total i.e. the number of
alcohol drinkers and those who didn't drink alcohol and the total sample 215?
Thank You
Bedilu Abebe
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
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from apparent manipulation?
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