Table 2.

Characteristics of 26 studies assessing domestic violence against infertile women15,16,18,20,25–46

Author (Year)	Country	Study design	Sampling	Tool	N	Relevant findings	Quality using CASP
Aduloju et al.38 (2015)	Nigeria	Cross-sectional	Convenient	Semi-structured questionnaire on violence	131	Total DV = 31.2% Psychological DV: >50% DV associated with unemployment, polygamous marriage, husband’s social habits, primary infertility and prolonged duration of infertility. No significant differences in the age of the women, duration of marriage and duration of infertility.	High
Akpinar et al.33 (2019)	Turkey	Cross-sectional	Convenient	AAS	142	Total DV = 47.9% Psychological DV = 76.5% Physical DV = 17.6% Sexual DV = 4.4% Physical and sexual abuse = 1.5% Risk factors included low educational and economic level and living in a compound family.	Moderate
Akyuz et al.36 (2013)	Turkey	Comparative descriptive	Convenient	SDVW	228	Emotional, economic and sexual violence scores were higher in the infertile group. The verbal violence score was lower.	High
Alijani et al.28 (2018)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Consecutive	CTS2	379	Total DV = 88.9% Physical violence = 25.9 % Sexual violence = 28.2% No relationships between violence and women’s educational status, men’s jobs, place of residence, alcohol consumption and drug addiction. Risk factors included men being smokers and women being of younger age.	High
Ameh et al.15 (2007)	Nigeria	Cross-sectional	Consecutive	Demographic and DV Questionnaire	233	Total DV = 41.6% Physical abuse = 17.5% Psychological torture = 51.5% Verbal abuse = 39.2% Educational level, parity, type of marriage and duration of infertility were not statistically significant.	Moderate
Ardabily et al.16 (2011)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Convenient	CTS2	400	Total DV = 61.8 Psychological DV = 33.8% Physical DV = 14% Sexual DV = 8%	High
Bondade et al.35 (2018)	Turkey	Cross-sectional	Convenient	HAM-A, HAM-D, WHO violence against women instrument	100	Total DV = 50% Psychological violence = 34% Physical violence = 11% Sexual violence = 5% The prevalence of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder was high among the IPV group.	High
Dhont et al.44 (2011)	Rwanda	Survey	-	Structured questionnaire	312	DV more frequently in the survey by infertile than fertile couples. Infertility was important determinant for the psycho-social consequences suffered.	Moderate
Etesami pour et al.31 (2011)	Iran	Comparative descriptive	Simple random	Family violence and sexual satisfaction, disorders questionnaire	100	The rate of mental, physical and economical violence in infertile women was significantly higher than fertile ones. Significant interaction effect between education of women and the rate of couple abuse was not observed in fertile and infertile groups.	High
Farzadi et al.30 (2014)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Convenient	Modified questionnaire of violence against women	200	Experienced at least one type of physical violence = 45% Sexual violence ≈ 54% Psychological violence = 82%	High
Iliyasu et al.39 (2016)	Nigeria	Cross-sectional	Systematic random	DHS, CTS2	373	Total DV = 35.9% Psychological violence = 94.0% Sexual = 82.8% Verbal = 35.1% Physical forms = 18.7% Multiple forms of violence = 25.4% Lack of formal education, employment in the informal sector and having an unemployed spouse or one with low level of education were all independently associated with IPV.	High
Lotfy et al.40 (2019)	Egypt	Cross-sectional	Convenient	IWEVDS	304	The most common forms of DV were psychological violence and verbal abuse. Predictors included wife’s age, residency, previous intra cytoplasmic sperm injection, divorce threats from and fear of husband.	High
Mansour et al.41 (2018)	Egypt	Cross-sectional	Convenient	Researcher-made questionnaire, general health questionnaire	246	Psychological violence was found to be the most common type of violence followed by sexual and physical violence. The severity of DV had a significant correlation with the social class of the woman, chronic disease of the husband, duration of marriage and trial of ICSI treatment.	High
Ozturk et al.25 (2021)	USA	Survey	Convenient	AAS, PSS, Social support questions, SFPS	786	Total DV = 21.8% Emotional abuse = 30.3% Physical abuse = 21.8% Experiencing high levels of stigma. One in five infertile women were exposed to emotional or physical violence.	High
Ozturk et al.45 (2017)	Turkey	Cross-sectional	Convenient	IWEVDS	301	Total DV = 32.5% Emotional DV = 21.8% Physical DV = 31.9% Sexual DV = 21.8% Verbal DV = 38.7%	High
Pasi et al.42 (2011)	India	Survey	-	NFHS-3	2,023	Experienced physical and/or sexual violence in the last 12 months = 77.8%	Low
Poornowrooz et al.27 (2019)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Convenient	FSFI	147	Total DV = 56.6% Physical violence = 34% Sexual violence = 27.2% Psychological violence = 52.4% Physical, sexual and psychological violence were higher in infertile women than fertile women.	High
Sahin et al.34 (2018)	Turkey	Cross-sectional	-	Questionnaires administered through the face-to-face interview method, Beck Anxiety Inventory	774	Total DV = 15.0% Emotional DV = 56.1% Physical violence = 11% Sexual DV = 21.9% Verbal DV = 11% Associated factors included being a woman aged 25 years and above, education level of high school and above, unemployment, addiction to smoking and alcohol, obesity, marriage more than once, being 19 years of age and below at the time of the first marriage, being married for four or less years, primary infertility, being infertile for two years and below and a family history of infertility. Anxiety levels were significantly higher among infertile women with a history of DV.	High
Sami and Ali 45,46 (2012)	Pakistan	Cross-sectional	Convenient	AAS	400	DV = 64% Physical violence = 23.1% Verbal violence = 60.8%	High
Sheikhan et al.20 (2014)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Convenient	DV questionnaire	400	Experienced DV = 34.7% Physical violence = 5.3% Emotional violence = 74.3% Sexual violence = 47.3% DV was significantly associated with unwanted marriage, number of IVF treatments, drug abuse, emotional status of the women, smoking, addiction or drug abuse by the spouse, mental and physical diseases of the husband.	High
Sis Çelik et al.32 (2018)	Turkey	Cross-sectional	Simple random	IWEVDS	423	Total DV = 72%. Physical violence = 30% Sexual violence = 6% Emotional violence = 62% Economic violence = 19%. Associations existed between violence against women and husband’s low education level, living in a rural area, husband’s classification as a ‘worker’ based on employment type, low level of income and primary infertility. No significant associations between domestic violence and women’s age, educational level and employment status of women, husband’s age, type of family, duration of infertility and marriage.	High
Satheesan and Satyaranayana43 (2018)	India	Cross-sectional	Simple random	MQS	30	Total DV = 47%. Women who experienced violence were more likely to report poor quality of marital relationship, higher levels of distress and lower resilience than women who did not. Experience of at least one form of intimate partner violence emerged as a significant predictor of psychological distress.	Moderate
Solanki et al.37 (2018)	Nigeria	Survey	-	Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey	8,646	Lower DV among childless women.	High
Tabrizi et al.29 (2016)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Random sampling	General health questionnaire	384	The violence rate was significant among families with infertile women, women with husbands educated at the primary level or below and among women with lower economic status. Lengthened duration of marriage and increased awareness of the infertile women was associated with higher rates of the violence. A strong relationship existed between all components of violence and the total general health score.	High
Taebi et al.26 (2016)	Iran	Cross-sectional	Convenient	PASNP, NPAPS	131	A significant difference existed between the mean scores of perceived non-physical partner abuse and factor of infertility.	High
Yildizhan et al.18 (2009)	Turkey	Cross-sectional	Convenient	Structured questionnaire modified from AAS	122	Total DV = 33.6% Physical abuse = 31.7% Forced sexual intercourse = 7.3% DV in case of a female infertility factor = 78% Verbal abuse = 63.4% Economic deprivation = 29.2%	High

N = total number of infertile women; CASP = critical appraisal skills program; DV = domestic violence; AAS = abuse assessment scale; SDVW = questionnaire and scale for marital violence against women; CTS2 = revised conflict tactics scale; HAM-A = hamilton anxiety rating scale; HAM-D = hamilton depression rating scale; IPV = intimate partner violence; DHS = demographic and health survey instrument; IWEVDS = interview questionnaire of infertile women’s exposure to violence determination scale; PSS = perceived stress scale; ICSI = intracytoplasmic sperm injection; SFPS = stigma of fertility problems scale; NFHS-3 = national family health survey 3; FSFI = domestic violence inventory and female sexual function index; IVF = in vitro fertilisation; MQS = marital quality scale; PASNP = partner abuse scale, non-physical; NPAPS = non-physical abuse of partner scale.