@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2383-2150    Journal of Education and Community Health 2015;1(4):51-57

Background
Psychological health is in one of the basic issues in social and psychological sciences domain that has brought attention of many of international institutions such as World Health Organization to itself [1].
Previous Studies
… [2]. Spouse Abuse or Domestic Violence to women is stated as hidden damage and serious threat against women psychological health. Spouse Abuse as one kind of the domestic abuse includes any violent behavior that practically happens to woman from the spouse. This kind of violence includes physical, emotional and sexual misbehavior that are used with the purpose of imposing domination, power and consolidation of power on woman and other members of the family and this has been the reason of the death of many women around the world[3-4]. … [5-9].
Aim(s)
This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between spouse abuse and psychological health of women exposed to domestic violence.
Research type
This study is cross-sectional of descriptive-analytical one.
Research society, place and time
The study population consisted of women suffered domestic violence and referred to Forensic Medicine Center in Shiraz (West Branch, East Branch) within three months of 2014.
Sampling method and number
To estimate the number of visitors to each center, researcher registered the number and reason of visiting the forensics medical center by women daily. With our evaluation, the share of women who were exposed to spouse abuse between the visitors of the center was specified and the number of the samples was estimated197 people according to Cochran formula The entrance qualification to the study included the following items: having enough score in one of the dimensions of violence against women questionnaire ( getting the score 16 or more in psychological violence domain, the score 11 or more in physical violence domain, the score of 3 or more in sexual abuse domain, 2 or more in economical violence domain), the participants consent in participating in the study, having the age range between 16-45, having the ability to read and write, locating in Fars province, not having severe physical injuries and pessimism (as a barrier to complete the files). In case of not having the sentiment of participating in the study or deficiency in completing the questionnaire,they exited the study.
Used devices&materials
The data-gathering instrument included demographic qualifications questionnaire, the standard questionnaire to evaluate violence against women and general health standard questionnaire. Standard questionnaire of evaluating violence against women (HajYahya) {10]: this questionnaire includes 32 clauses and 4 factors. The first factor includes (clauses 1-16) evaluating psychological violence, second factor (clauses 17-27) evaluating physical violence, third factor (clauses 28-30) evaluating sexual abuse and forth factor (clauses 31-32) scoring economical abuse including never, once, twice, more than twice and score 1 to 4. In this questionnaire, variation range of psychological violence score is between 16 and 64, physical violence between 11 and 44, sexual abuse between 3 and 12, and economical abuse between 2 and 8. In a study which was conducted on Palestine women in 1999, the reliability of this test by using Cronbach`s Alpha for all 4 factors of physical, psychological, sexual and economical violence were respectively 0.71, 0.86, 0.93, 0.92. In Khaghanistudy Alpha test for the whole test was reported 0.97 [10]. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28): Goldberg and Helyer introduced this questionnaire as a valid instrument; it can specify the possibility of neurosis in individuals. This questionnaire has 4 sub scales: subscale of physical signs (questions 1-7), anxiety and insomnia (questions 8-14), social dysfunction (questions 15-21)and depression (questions 22-28). The basis of specifying positive items is the cut-off point 24. Those who had a sore more than 24would be grouped in mental health problems. The validity rate of this questionnaire with internal consistency (Alpha) for physical signs indicators was obtained by 71%, anxiety and insomnia 86%, social dysfunction 93 % and serious depression 92% and the whole questionnaire 78% [11]. The reliability coefficient for each of the relevant dimensions in Saadati study has been estimated respectively as 0.893, 0.844 and 0.866 [10]. Statistical analysis: The data were analyzed by statistical software SPSS version 18 and with descriptive statics and multiple regression. A meaningful level of less than 0.05 was considered in this study.
Findings by Text
According to the findings of the study, the mean age range of women, 30.42±6.72, was reported with age range of 16-45. Most of these women were housewives (83.2) and they had diploma (43.7). The result of the study showed that mean score of psychological spouse abuse was 55.80., physical spouse abuse 36.44, sexual spouse abuse 7.09 and economical spouse abuse 6.11. The obtained total mean for spouse abuse was equal to 105.45. Based on gained results from the study, more than 50% of women had experienced the violence. Among violence subscales, psychological abuse and then physical abuse had the highest mean. Therefore, psychological and then physical abuse had happened more than other kinds of violence in the family (Table 1). The mean obtained for dimensions of physical signs, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction, depression, are respectively: 10.67, 11.29, 11.10, and 10.25; among this, the mean of general health was estimated 43.13(Table 2). Based on cut-off point more than24, 168people (85.3%) had suffered from psychological problems and 29 people (14.7%) had no problem in this domain.To study the relationship of spouse abuse dimensions and general health, the multiple regression test was used. In each one of tests, one dimension of the general health questionnaire as the criterion variable (Y) and different dimensions of spouse abuse (psychological, physical, sexual and social) were studiedas predicator variable (Table 3). The regression coefficient sign (b) is the indicator of the positive relationship of different kinds of spouse abuse and subscales of mental health.The results showed that in all the spouse abuse dimensions, the individual mental health was in danger and there was a direct and meaningful relationship between spouse abuse dimensions and all dimensions of mental health. The standardized amount of regression coefficient β shows which dimension of spouse abuse has a role in specifying in mental health more than others, as it was showed in table number 3, the standardized regression coefficient amount (β), in spouse abuse in physical signs dimensions (0.17), anxiety dimension (0.18), social performance dimension (0.15), and in depression (1.32) were obtained. According to the numbers in Table 3, psychological spouse abuse had the most share in explaining the mental health of women. The β amount in psychological and then physical spouse abuse in depression dimension and anxiety were respectively (1.32 and 1.26) and (0.18 and 0.13) and it shows that applying psychological and physical abuse had the most effect on the anxiety and depression dimensions of women.
Main comparison to the similar studies
In a study in Khoram Abad, it was reported that there was the least experience in domestic violence in direct physical abuse domain (3.9%) and most experiences were in indirect physical abuse and emotional psychological abuse (11.7%) that is the sign of decrease in direct physical injuries and a change in subcultural abuse [7, 12]. …[13]. In Gilroy et al. study [14], among women who had visited health centers. Anxiety and depression was reported the most common known disorder following domestic violence. In addition, Kim et al. [15], Ludermir et al. [16], Mechanic et al [1] showed that there was a meaningful relationship between spouse abuse and mental disorder among women.
Suggestions
It is suggested that the future studies be conducted in larger quantity with the aim of increasing the generalizability of the study results.
Limitations
In this study,there were limitations as unwillingness of some women to participate in the study as a result of fear of disposing private secrets and the difficulty of inviting women who immediately referred to forensics after spouse abuse to participate in the study or suffered from serious physical injuries. Also in the current study, a small sample of women who were victims of violence were chosen. The study was limited to women who were the victims of violence.
Conclusions
The current study is a marker of psychological consequences of spouse abuse and violence against women and a confirmation of the damage to mental health of women as a result of violence.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their appreciation to respected authorities of Forensics Medical Center of east and west branch of Shiraz.
Conflict of interest
There is no relationship between personal interests of authors and the results of the study.
Ethical Permissions
The permission was taken from the Deputy of Research and the code was taken from the ethnical committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In order to comply with research ethics, firstan explanation about the project was given and there was no mention of name or family name of individuals.
Funding Sources
This study was approved in 11/03/2014 with number 92.6923 by deputy of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and Technology and the funds were supplied by above-mentioned deputy.

TABLES and CHARTS

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