Paul Andrew Bourne*, Affia Palmer, Brianna Brady, Racquel Swaby, Dwayne Malcolm, James Fallah, Calvin Campbell, Clifton Foster, Caroline McLean and Monique White
The first COVID-19 case in Jamaica was in March 2020 it has been an issue since then. This study targets victim of domestic violence, examines the factors that contribute to Jamaican women being victims of domestic violence, and determines whether domestic violence against Jamaican women has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers conducted a random sampling correlation research design to collect data from 513 Jamaican women 18 years and older across the island using a standardized survey created using Google forms. The Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows, Version 25.0 with 95% confidence interval provided analysis of the collected data. Of the sampled respondents (n=505), 32% indicated being victims of domestic violence, with 60% reported being physically abused, 8.9% reported sexual abuse, and 31.1% reported being emotionally abused of the total sampled respondents, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 49% of them frequently experienced domestic violence compared to 53.1% during COVID-19.The majority of women who reported having a personality disorder (63.6%) were domestically abused compared to other women. Furthermore, of the 513 Jamaican women surveyed, 46.9% were between ages 18-25 years, 46.9% employed, 68.8% lived in rural communities, and 53.8% had a tertiary level education. In addition, most perpetrators of domestic violence were boyfriends (98%) compared to husbands (89.7%,) followed by family members (79.3%).Intimate partner violence has intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic, which means the home has become a battleground for women. Such a stark reality indicates that this public health matter requires immediate attention to mitigate further increase amid ongoing “stay at home orders” and social isolation.
