A number of researchers found domestic violence to be a major contributor of physical and mental health problems in sufferers. (REF) Some studies have reported about rising rates of domestic violence related homicides. (REF) It has been observed that abused women very frequently get chance to be in contact with healthcare system sometimes for routine checkups and at other times to seek emergency care for injuries. Healthcare providers thus are in appropriate position to identify abuse and provide or devise possible interventions. These indications let researchers and human rights activists to approach the problem of domestic violence as a public health problem. Bachman (2000) and Saltzman (2004) strongly recommended for accurate measurement of domestic abuse in healthcare setups as this information could be very useful for identification of abuse as well as for devising intervention activities for victims.

One important methodological concern common to domestic violence research has been measurement of abuse. Although violence is a measurable phenomenon but its accurate measurement is also influenced by perception of people about the act. Researchers have found variability in perception of people about certain abusive acts as ‘violent’ or not. For instance, forced sex or martial rape is still not considered an abuse in many societies around the world.

A number of international organizations have provided the definitions of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) with clear description of acts in various categories. For instance, The Australian Medical Association (AMA) (1998) defined domestic violence as, “the domination, coercion, intimidation and victimization of one person by another by physical, sexual or emotional means within intimate relationships.”

An outline of types of abuse in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) was provided by Australian Public Health (1990). According to this description: