Data on domestic violence in DHS surveys comes from an optional module of questions. Thus, indicators in this chapter are available for some, but not all countries. Additionally, The DHS Program, in accordance with the WHO guidelines “Putting Women First: Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Research on Domestic Violence against Women” World Health Organization, 2001, randomly selects only one woman per household among all eligible women in the household selected for the individual questionnaire for this module. Thus, the number of women who have information for domestic violence will always be less than the number of women selected for the complete DHS individual interview.
Historically, a large part of the domestic violence module was implemented only for ever-married women and had questions about violence perpetrated by the current husband/partner for women who are currently married and the most recent husband/partner for women who are currently divorced, separated or widowed. Starting with surveys implemented in 2021 using the DHS-8 domestic violence module, the module now includes never-married women who, through two new screening questions, say that they currently have or have had an intimate partner. Note that ever-married women are women who self-report as being married, divorced, separated, or widowed, or living with or having ever lived with a man as if married. Never-married women self-define who is an intimate partner. Nonetheless, interviewers are trained to be careful to not include casual relationships without longer-term intimacy when asking never-married women if they have or had an intimate partner. The inclusion of never-married women in the intimate partner related violence indicators imply that these indicators can no longer be called spousal violence indicators but are more accurately called intimate partner violence indicators.
Also note that for these questions, the term ‘husband’ applies to ever-married women and includes the man a woman says she is married to or the man (partner) a woman says she lives with as if married. Thus, the combined term ‘husband/intimate partner’ includes current or most recent husbands of ever-married women (and men they live with as if married) and the current intimate partner of never-married women. The term ‘previous husband/intimate partner’ is a husband (or partner she is living with as if married) other than the current husband (or man she is living with as if married) for currently married women, any intimate partner for never-married women who do not currently have an intimate partner, and a husband/partner other than the most recent husband/partner for divorced, separated, or widowed women.
Subsampling and weights
Data users should be aware that in most DHS surveys that collect these data, the domestic violence module is most often implemented only in a subsample of the households selected for the full DHS survey. Further, for ethical reasons, only one woman per household is randomly selected for the domestic violence module among all women eligible for the woman’s questionnaire. Additionally, the domestic violence module can be entirely skipped if, despite all the interviewer’s efforts, complete privacy for the duration of the module is not possible. The domestic violence weight (d005) takes these factors into account and should be used when using the DHS domestic violence module data.
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https://www.dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-AS18-Analytical-Studies.cfm
Kishor, S. and S. E. K. Bradley. 2012. Women’s and Men’s Experience of Spousal Violence in
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https://www.dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-OD31-Other-Documents.cfm
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Maryland, USA: ICF International.
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World Health Organization (WHO). 2001. Putting Women First: Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Research on Domestic Violence against Women. https://www.who.int/gender/violence/womenfirtseng.pdf
World Health Organization (WHO), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, South African Medical Research Council. 2013. Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/85239/9789241564625_eng.pdf