Intimate partner violence is a global problem that has gained increased attention today. The consequences of IPV are a variety of damaging health outcomes and results in major health risks and death. The range for lifetime prevalence of physical and sexual violence is 15%-71% in women around the world. The risks for HIV increases to a big extent when IPV exists and in Africa, lifetime prevalence of domestic violence have been reported from 17 to 48%. However, science has focused mostly on developed countries in the West and not in developing countries. The aim was to describe how professionals in Kenya, who come in contact with victims of IPV, describe the causes of the violence and the victims' vulnerability. A qualitative study design was adopted since the aim was to find a deeper understanding and patterns across the data. The data collection included in-depth interviews. The sample consisted of eight people, three men and five women, with variation in education and working experience, though all worked in the field of IPV in Kenya. The result generated in three themes named "structural inequalities", "masculinity" and "stand by your man". The first theme explains how unequal structural gender perceptions and culture perceptions have an impact on IPV. The second theme describe IPV from the view of a man living up what's expected of him as a man and the third theme expresses reasons for why a victim doesn't leave an abusive relationship. There are several explanations to violent actions within relationships and why victims choose to stay within the relationship, in Kenya. Strengthened gender roles which result in unequal power relationships makes one part entitled to abuse the other part. It is vital to educate victims of IPV so that they know their own legal and human rights and that they know that violence is not to be tolerated.
2014-06-03