Knowledge of and Attitude towards Domestic Violence among Married Teachers in Primary Schools in Borno State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of married public and private school teachers towards domestic violence (DV) in Borno State, Maiduguri, Nigeria. To determine this knowledge and attitude, two objectives were raised and two null hypotheses were answered. A cross-sectional research design was used for this study. The population and sample of this study consist of both private and public primary school teachers in Maiduguri. A convenience sample was used to select 185 teachers in public schools and 185 teachers in private schools making a total of 370. The instrument used to collect data for this study was adopted from previous studies named Knowledge and Attitude of Married Teachers towards Domestic Violence in Borno State, Maiduguri, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents, mean and standard deviation were used for the research questions while inferential statistics of independent sampled t-tests were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result indicated that there is no significant difference in knowledge and attitude of married public and private school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri on DV based on gender (p > 0.05). It was concluded that married teachers in public and private primary schools in Maiduguri have good knowledge of DV as a result of having a positive attitude towards DV. It was recommended that the good knowledge of DV demonstrated by these primary school teachers should be used to educate other married men and women in various communities on the need to avoid domestic violence so as to have a peaceful environment at home.

Introduction

Domestic Violence (DV) is a pattern of abusive behaviours used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner in any relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation. It can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviour that intimidates, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. Domestic Violence (DV) can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender, [1,2]. Mostly, violence is usually perpetrated by the husband of a woman and this is often due to the emotional attachment with or economic dependency of women on the perpetrators of violence. The problem of violence is a universal phenomenon issue, regardless of social, economic, religious, or cultural group [3]. Domestic violence refers to any behaviour response between husband and wife that result in physical, psychological, or sexual harm to those in the relationship. It includes acts of physical aggression (slapping, hitting, kicking, and beating), psychological abuse (intimidation, constant belittling, and humiliation), forced intercourse and other forms of sexual coercion, various controlling behaviors (isolating a person from their family and friends, monitoring their movements and restricting their access to information or assistance) [3,4].

Domestic violence is centred on socio-cultural norms of society and is influenced by some factors such as religion and culture of patriarchy has increased the incidences of domestic Violence. More so, the non-enforcement of the law prohibiting domestic violence against husband and wife, maltreatment, and human rights violations such as male child preference, female genital mutilation, and attitude to wife-beating show that this practice is unlikely to abate at a fast rate [5]. This is shown by the fact that 64.5% of female respondents agreed that at least one valid reason for wife beating, compared with 61.3% of male respondents. Some of the reasons advanced with the highest frequency include going out without telling the husband, (52.8%) for women and 49.9% for men, not cooking on time (63.3%) for women and 17.2% for men, refusing intercourse with him (37.5%) of women and 33.3% of men [5]. Many of these different forms of domestic violence can occur at the same time within the same intimate relationship [6]. Domestic violence can affect anyone of any age, or gender whether it is physical or psychological. Domestic abuse is destructive for both the battered and the batterer.

Knowledge is awareness or understanding someone has about domestic violence which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning. In a study conducted by Najwa, et al. [7], it was reported that the response rate was 62.8% for physicians and 61.1% for nurses. The study revealed that the overall knowledge score was higher in physicians than in nurses. Also, the scores for the individual domains were significantly higher for physicians than nurses except for the psychological one. Attitude is a behavioural disposition or a feeling of an individual towards domestic violence usually accompanied by opinion. In a study conducted in rural and urban communities of Ibadan, women attributed the causes of IPV to women’s stubborn attitude, extramarital affairs by either partner, women denying the partner sex, not obeying his instructions, disobedience, and non-submission to the partner, late food preparation, men regarding women as inferior and thus “considering women as men’s possession”, inappropriate dressing and keeping friends that the partner does not approve of were causes of intimate partner violence IPV [8]. Some of the school teachers lament that most of the domestic violence they know and have seen are assaults, molestation, stubbornness, sexual denial, and physical abuse among others. It is against this background this study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of married public and private school teachers towards domestic violence in Borno State, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Objectives of the study

The objectives of this study were to:

1. Determine the knowledge of married public and private primary school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri on DV.
2. Determine the attitude of married public and private primary school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri towards DV.

Methodology

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested:

Ho₁: There is no significant difference in knowledge of married public and private school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri on DV based on gender

Ho₂: There is no significant difference in the attitude of married public and private primary school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri towards DV based on gender

Design: A cross-sectional research design was used for this study.

Population and sample: The population and sample of this study consist of both private and public primary school teachers in Maiduguri. A convenience sample was used to select 185 teachers in public schools and 185 teachers in private schools making a total of 370. The reason for using a convenience sample was because the population of private school teachers in Maiduguri cannot be ascertained.

Research instrument: The instrument used to collect data for this study was adopted from previous studies [9] named Knowledge and Attitude of Married Teachers Towards Domestic Violence (KAMTDV) in Borno State, Maiduguri, Nigeria. It is divided into 3 sections. Section A deals with demographic information of the respondents (gender, age, types of family, etc), section B deals with knowledge of teachers about DV; it contains 5 items, while section C deals with the attitude of teachers towards DV which contains 9 items, and it was adopted from [10]. The instrument used a 4-likert scale response mode (SA=4, A=3, D=2, SD=1). The instrument was validated using face and content validity by an expert in the Department of Physical and Health Education University of Maiduguri. The reliability of the instrument was tested in one of the private schools in Maiduguri. Split-half reliability was used to test the reliability of the instrument among 18 teachers. The data collected were analyzed using Crobat Alpha. The questionnaire was declared reliable with an acceptable alpha value of 0.8.

Method of data analyses

Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents, mean and standard deviation were used for the research questions while inferential statistics of independent sampled t-tests were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The decision rule is that any item with a mean score of 2.50 and above was regarded as agreeing, whereas any item with a mean score less than 2.50 was regarded as disagreeing.

Result

Out of the 370 copies of the questionnaire administered, 361 were correctly coded and returned which gives the percentage of 97.5% questionnaire. Table 1 which is on demographic information of the respondents indicated that 169(46.7%) were male, while 192(53.0%) were female. The table also revealed that 168 (46.4%) of these married teachers were from public schools and 193(53.3%) were from private schools. Similarly, 40(11.0%) of the participants fall within the age of 20—25, 46 (12.7%) were within 26—30, 90 (24.9%) were within 31—35, 103 (28.5%) within 36—40, while 82(22.7%) of these teachers were fall within 41 and above. On the aspect of the type of family, the result showed that 270(74.8%) were monogamous, while 91(25.2%) were polygamous families.

Research Question 1: What is the knowledge of domestic violence among married teachers in public and private primary schools in Maiduguri, Borno State?

Table 2 shows mean and standard deviation scores of knowledge of domestic violence among married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State. In addition, the Table shows that the respondents rated more of the items above a mean score of 2.50, this implies that married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State have knowledge of domestic violence. Furthermore, the grand mean and standard deviation scores of 2.65 and 1.13 are empirical evidence supporting the agreement among the respondents.

Research Question 2: What is the attitude of married teachers toward domestic violence among public and private primary schools in Borno State, Maiduguri?

Table 3 shows mean and standard deviation scores of the attitude of married teachers towards domestic violence among married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State. In addition, the Table shows that the respondents rated more of the items above a mean score of 2.50, this implies that married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State have positive attitudes towards domestic violence. Furthermore, the grand mean and standard deviation scores of 2.61 and 1.19 are empirical evidence supporting the agreement among the respondents.

Ho1: There is no significant difference in knowledge of married public and private school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri on DV based on gender.

Table 4 contains information on Knowledge of DV among married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State, Maiduguri based on gender. Independent sample t-test was applied to test the null hypothesis. The result indicated that there is no significant difference in the knowledge of married public and private school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri on DV based on gender (p > 0.05). Hence, the null hypothesis was retained.

Ho2: There is no significant difference in the attitude of married public and private primary school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri towards DV based on gender.

Table 5 contains information on the attitude of married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State, Maiduguri towards DV based on gender. Independent sample t-test was applied to test the null hypothesis. The result indicated that there is no significant difference in the attitude of married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State, Maiduguri towards DV based on gender (p > 0.05). Hence, the null hypothesis was retained.

Discussion

This study assessed the knowledge and attitude of teachers in Maiduguri towards DV. The result of this study showed married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State, Maiduguri have good knowledge of DV. The good knowledge of DV demonstrated by these teachers could be a result of the fact that they are all married and are teachers. That is, as a teacher, they must have seen violent students, colleagues, neighbours, and even parents/guardians. This can be seen because the mean and standard deviation scores of knowledge of the respondents are above 2.5. The good knowledge of DV demonstrated by public school teachers in Maiduguri is related to the result of the study conducted by Arora, et al. [11]. They found that the median score of clinical knowledge of violence against women increased from pre to post-training (8.89 vs. 10.00). There was no change in the median score between post-training and 6-month follow-up. Moreover, the result of this study also corresponds with a recent study conducted in Kaduna by [9], where the writer found that 150(88.2%) out of 170 respondents had heard about DV, the majority of the respondents at 66.5% (113) had high knowledge about DV while a significant 33.5% (57) had low knowledge about DV. The result of this study also corresponds to the study of Arora, et al. [11], where the result revealed a significant increase in overall knowledge, supportive attitudes towards survivors, and individual HCP preparedness following training, however, change in attitudes between pre-training and 6-month follow-up was not significant.

Moreover, the result showed that married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State have a positive attitude towards domestic violence. This can be confirmed as the respondents rated more of the items above a mean score of 2.50. The result of this study is related to the work of Ogbalu, et al. [12]. They noted in their study that phobia, poor self-esteem, and multiple sexual partners among others are forms of domestic violence among married teachers in secondary schools in Anambra State. The result of the current study is similar to the previous study that was carried out by Ashimolowo and Otufale [13], where the writers reported that 68.20% of the respondents never experienced battering or beating since they got married, 86.15% of the respondents were never forced under any condition to have a sexual relationship by their husband without their consent. Furthermore, they lamented that the overall result shows that the majority of the sampled respondents never experienced the listed domestic violence, since they were married, 18% experienced verbal form of abuse. This is in line with the finding of Loi, et al. [14] that domestic violence is relatively low in their community with an estimated occurrence of 5 percent to 20 percent. Reasons adduced are that (i) domestic violence is not rampant in the sampled areas (ii) most of the domestic violence experienced by women in their households or in the communities go unreported by the victims because of the culture of silence and acquiescence about domestic violence in our culture. The result of this study contradicts the findings of studies conducted within Nigeria and beyond where they found that in Uganda and Northern Nigeria, about one in three women living in rural districts experienced verbal abuse or physical threats, divorce from their partners [15,16].

Similarly, the result indicated that there is no significant difference in the knowledge of married public and private school teachers in Borno State, Maiduguri on DV based on gender (p > 0.05). The result of this study is consistent with a previous study conducted by Arora, et al. [11]. The result indicated that the median score of clinical knowledge of violence against women VAW increased from pre to post-training (8.89 vs. 10.00). There was no change in the median score between post-training and 6-month follow-up. The general equation model adjusted for age, sex, department, and site indicated a significant change from pre to post-training (p < .001) and pre-to 6-month follow-up (p < .001) for both clinical knowledge and ways to ask about violence. The result of this work is not in line with the study of Ramsay, et al. [17]. They reported that minimal previous domestic violence training was reported by participants. Clinicians only had basic knowledge about domestic violence but expressed a positive attitude towards engaging with women experiencing abuse. Many clinicians felt poorly prepared to ask relevant questions about domestic violence or to make appropriate referrals if abuse was disclosed.

The result indicated that there is no significant difference in the attitude of married teachers in public and private primary schools in Borno State, Maiduguri towards DV based on gender (p > 0.05). The result of this study buttresses the study of Ogbalu, et al. [12], where they found that the difference in mean ratings of forms of domestic violence based on gender is not significant. The result of this study is not the same of Sa´nchez-Prada, et al. [18], where a significant difference was found by gender in all of the subscales in both Inventory of Beliefs about Intimate Partner Violence (IBIPV) and Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating (IBWB), and in both cases: women expressed a stronger rejection towards IPVAW than men. The Kruskal-Wallis test yielded statistically significant age effects on all of the subscales of both IBIPV and IPDMV. There were significant differences by gender in the 16–17, 18–24, and 25–49 age groups, and all the differences were in the same sense: women expressed a stronger rejection towards IPVAW than men.

Conclusion

It was concluded that married teachers in public and private primary schools in Maiduguri have good knowledge of DV as a result of having a positive attitude towards DV.

Recommendations

Based on the findings, it was recommended that:

1. The good knowledge of DV demonstrated these primary school teachers should be used to educate other married men and women in various communities on the need to avoid domestic violence so as to have a peaceful environment at home.
2. Married teachers should endeavour to learn and understand each other as this will enable them to avoid any form of violence at home.

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