A STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF AN AWARENESS PROGRAMME ON KNOWLEDGE REGARDING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AMONG WOMEN IN SELECTED RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES IN PATHANAMTHITTA DISTRICT, KERALA

Violence against women is widely recognized as a serious human right abuse, and an important public health problem with substantial consequences physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health.The social construction of the divide between public and private underlies the hidden nature of domestic violence against women.The position of women in the Indian society has been a very complicated one and domestic violence is a growing epidemic in Indian societies. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of an awareness programme on knowledge regarding domestic violence among women in selected rural and urban communities.A quantitative quasi experimental design was used and the study participants (100) were selected by using multi-stage cluster sampling (random selection) technique. The data was collected by using a structured knowledge questionnaire on domestic violence and awareness program was given to the participants on the same day. The post test was conducted after seven days of awareness program. Results revealed that the awareness program was effective (paired t test = 23.85) which was highly significant at 0.01 (p = 0.000). The association of baseline variables with pre-test knowledge scores was calculated by using Chi-square test. Results also revealed a significant association between educational status and type of family with pre-test knowledge scores regarding domestic violence at 0.05 level (p = 0.04). No significant association was seen with other baseline variables like: womens age, family income, area of residence, occupation, occupation, type of marriage, number of children with pre-test knowledge scores regarding domestic violence. The study concludes that awareness about the problems relatedto domestic violence will help the victims know about their rights and also will reduce the rate of the problem.