ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Shayan   A. (1)
Masoumi   S.Z. (2*)
Kaviani   M. (3)






(1) Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
(2*) Department of Midwifery and Mother & Child Care Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, , Hamadan, Iran
(3) Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Correspondence


Article History

Received:   March  6, 2015
Accepted:   May 27, 2015
ePublished:   June 22, 2015

ABSTRACT

Aims Neglecting women's health and the domestic violence prevailing against them can cause a variety of mental and even physical diseases that threaten the health of the family. Disruptions in the life pattern of women and mothers have adverse health effects for both the family and the entire society. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between wife abuse and mental health in female victims of domestic violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz.
Materials & Methods The present cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study was conducted over three months in 2013 on 197 women with abusive husbands referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz. The study data collection tools included a demographic information questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and a standard violence against women questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was measured to assess the data collection tools' reliability. Data were analyzed in SPSS-18.
Findings The mean age of the study subjects was reported as 30.42±6.72. More than 50 percent of the women had been victim to domestic violence and suffered from disorders in all the aspects of general health (P<0.05). There was a positive relationship between domestic violence and all the aspects of general health. In other words, violence of any kind was a predictor of general health disorders (P<0.05). Domestic violence was found to have the greatest effect on the incidence of depression and anxiety.
Conclusion The present study revealed the psychological consequences of wife abuse and violence against women and confirmed the damaging effect of violence on women's mental health. In addition to imposing heavy costs on the society for providing healthcare and medications, mental health disorders in women are also a burden for the family life and the children's upbringing.


CITATION LINKS

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