Spouse Abuse

Spouse abuse (SA) refers to a phenomenon that is commonly known as domestic violence. It is also variously referred to as family violence, domestic dispute, intimate partner violence, wife abuse, wife battering, husband battering, gender based violence and many other terminologies in various parts of the world. Spouse abuse also refers to violence between intimates living together or who have previously cohabited (Buzawa and Buzawa, 2003).

Male-Kayongo and Onyango (1984) recognized the need to conduct complete studies in the areas of divorce, abuse and homicide by spouses as well as family issues which end up in court, and although many researches have been undertaken in Kenya in the area of domestic violence, no specific study has focused on establishing the socio-demographic characteristics of spouse abuse victims in Nairobi City County. This makes it difficult to design effective interventions in addressing spouse abuse.