Violence against women during pregnancy: sistematized revision

Abstract

Violence against women is widely recognized as a serious public health problem. The pregnancy is a risk factor for increasing the violence, especially when it is related to socio-economic conditions. The objective of this work is to ascertain the relation between violence against women during pregnancy in developed countries and in developing countries. It was performed a systematized review. It was proceeded a search of the literature through online databases MEDLINE and SciELO in December 2013, only with articles published between January 1, 2003 and November 30, 2013. The following descriptors were used for searching on the database “domestic violence” (Medical Subject Headings [MeSH]); “violence against women” (Health Sciences Descriptors [DeCS]); and “pregnancy” (Keyword). The Search strategies resulted in 71 studies. After analysis of the titles and abstracts of articles found for eligibility based on inclusion criteria, 43 articles were deleted and 28 articles were included in the final sample. The study revealed the predominance of researches developed about violence against women during pregnancy in developing countries, strengthening the strong socio-economic character related to victims and aggressors.