31 A broad definition of IPV was used, encompassing sexual, physical, economic and psychological abuse.
Many participants stressed the need for an inclusive definition of IPV that goes beyond physical and sexual violence.
Moreover, the non-standardization of the definition of IPV may also affect the internal validity of the study and result in an over reporting or underreporting of cases of IPV.
Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definition of IPV [ 9], we have chosen to consistently use the term 'violence' for physical and sexual types of violence, and 'abuse' for psychological types.
aIn this paper, we use the WHO definition of IPV: 'behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behaviors' (WHO, 2010: 11).
Based on the Centre for Disease Controle definition of IPV [ 6], we have chosen to consistently use the term 'violence' for physical and sexual types of violence, and 'abuse' for psychological types.
Discrepancies in the co-occurring abuse rates may be due to several factors such as differences in how co-occurring abuse is combined, the operational definition of IPV and the characteristics of the samples.
In several instances, differences in abuse rates may be partly explained by discrepancies in the operational definition of IPV (as evidenced by the increased disclosure when using ascertainment tools in this case of this study), the number of violence items assessed and the population characteristics (women who sought help for IPV experiences).
The earlier-in-life rates were somewhat lower in the current study compared to previous ones, [ 34, 39] which may be due to actual differences in prevalence and to differences in the definitions of IPV.
These were used to identify the two major analytical themes: Malawian perspectives of IPV (that included types, definitions, magnitude, forms, perceived causes of violence, and perspectives on violence and health) and perceptions of IPV services (that included help-seeking and health sector responses).
