Violence against women in Turkey: a social ecological framework of determinants and prevention strategies

Abstract

Violence against women (VAW) in Turkey is concerning, and to develop and implement effective prevention strategies for addressing it, careful consideration must be given to the factors that influence it. In this review, we synthesized the body of literature on VAW in Turkey according to a social ecological framework, which is a theoretical model considering the complex interplay between individual, relationship, community, and societal factors. Consistent with this framework, we obtained research articles and commentaries in Turkish and English from a variety of national and international databases and websites regarding risk factors, cultural practices violating women's rights, and trends and current practices, including prevention efforts. Our review revealed that factors influencing VAW are marriage at young age, lower education level, alcohol abuse, and childhood trauma or abuse history for individual level; having multiple partners, low relationship satisfaction, and forced marriage for relationship level; poverty, lack of social support, and lack of employment opportunities for community level; cultural acceptance of men's superiority and dominance over women, acceptance of violence, cultural practices, and weak legal sanctions for societal level. Additionally, we reviewed multilevel prevention strategies in the extant literature on effective prevention and intervention efforts according to social ecological framework and proposed research, practice, and policy implications derived from this framework.