The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz

Background and Objectives: 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 f...

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Main Authors: Arezoo Shayan, Seyede Zahra Masoumi*, Masoumeh Kaviani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hamadan University of Medical Sciences 2015-03-01
Series:Journal of Education and Community Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jech.umsha.ac.ir/browse.php?a_id=82&slc_lang=en&sid=1&ftxt=1
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author Arezoo Shayan
Seyede Zahra Masoumi*
Masoumeh Kaviani
author_facet Arezoo Shayan
Seyede Zahra Masoumi*
Masoumeh Kaviani
author_sort Arezoo Shayan
collection DOAJ
description Background and Objectives: 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 and 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. Results: 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.
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spelling doaj-art-5c7983471004400687b9c8f97d4863442025-08-20T01:51:03ZengHamadan University of Medical SciencesJournal of Education and Community Health2383-23122383-23122015-03-0114515710.20286/jech-010451The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of ShirazArezoo Shayan0Seyede Zahra Masoumi* 1Masoumeh Kaviani2Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.Department of Midwifery and Mother & Child Care Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.Background and Objectives: 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 and 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. Results: 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.http://jech.umsha.ac.ir/browse.php?a_id=82&slc_lang=en&sid=1&ftxt=1AbuseDomestic violenceMental healthForensics
spellingShingle Arezoo Shayan
Seyede Zahra Masoumi*
Masoumeh Kaviani
The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz
Journal of Education and Community Health
Abuse
Domestic violence
Mental health
Forensics
title The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz
title_full The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz
title_fullStr The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz
title_full_unstemmed The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz
title_short The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz
title_sort relationship between wife abuse and mental health in women experiencing domestic violence referred to the forensic medical center of shiraz
topic Abuse
Domestic violence
Mental health
Forensics
url http://jech.umsha.ac.ir/browse.php?a_id=82&slc_lang=en&sid=1&ftxt=1
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