factors associated with poor mental health due to intimate partner violence among fishermen’s wives in bangladesh

Background: intimate partner violence (ipv) is a public health concern in the world, especially in the developing world. bangladesh, a developing country, has the highest rate of ipv among the south asian countries. we designed this study to examine survey data from a fishing community in cox’s bazar district in bangladesh, aiming to investigate the factors associated with the poor mental health conditions of women who experienced ipv.methods: this study used a cross-sectional design. the target population included fishermen’s wives within the reproductive age group (15-49 years) who experienced ipv. a convenient sampling procedure selected 120 fishermen’s wives from three fishers’ villages of cox’s bazar district in 2022. we assessed the respondents’ mental health conditions using the self-reporting questionnaire (srq-20). we analyzed the data using fisher’s exact test, independent t-test, and binary logistic regression in spss version 26.results: the respondents reported the prevalence of physical and psychological abuse by their current intimate partners in the last year. the findings indicated that their intimate partners physically abused 69.2% of respondents and psychologically abused 86.7% of them in the past year. the majority of the respondents (80%, n=96) had poor mental health (srq≥7). the results from binary logistic regression models demonstrated that the poor mental health of respondents was associated with several factors, including respondents’ age (p=0.045), education (p=0.001), personal income (p=0.002), consumption of betel leaf/smokeless tobacco (p=0.032), not being a member of a non-governmental organization (ngo) (p=0.023), a husband’s gambling habit (p=0.05), a history of psychological abuse (p=0.001), and those who seek assistance during crisis times (p=0.027).conclusions: the study findings can assist policymakers and fisheries practitioners in formulating policies and programs to reduce ipv in fisheries communities, thereby ensuring that no one is left behind.