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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sadrivaan A and B (The Hilton Istanbul Hotel )
Objective: A significant number of women presenting with physical symptoms have mental problems as the underlying cause of their symptoms. The study aimed to evaluate mental symptoms of women attending a primary health care center and to assess the relationship between mental symptoms and exposure to domestic violence.
Method: The study population consisted of female out-patients who visited the selected primary health care center in one of the three consecutive working days with the selection criteria being above 18 years of age and having at least eight years of education. Data of the descriptive study were gathered through Symptom Check List (SCL)-90-R and a questionnaire comprised of questions on sociodemographics and domestic violence exposure. Chi-square, t test and ANOVA were used to analyse data by SPSS 15.0 statistical package programme.
Results: The mean age of women (n=268) participating in the study was 33.7±9.9 years and 51.5% were exposed to domestic violence (psychological, physical, sexual etc.). 18.7 percent of women’s Global Symptom Index was above the cut-off point of “1”, which meant they needed further evaluation of their mental health. Mean Positive Symptom Total scores were found to be higher among women who were low educated, unemployed, married, exposed to domestic violence and women who had numerous children (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The study findings on factors such as low education level, unemployment or exposure to domestic violence which affect women’s mental health in a negative way may guide health workers for being more aware of such risk factors and mental symptoms during health service delivery. There is need for interventions such as in-service training of primary health care workers for easier identification, appropriate management and referral of women with mental symptoms or associated risk factors.
Key words: SCL-90-R, woman, mental health, domestic violence
Method: The study population consisted of female out-patients who visited the selected primary health care center in one of the three consecutive working days with the selection criteria being above 18 years of age and having at least eight years of education. Data of the descriptive study were gathered through Symptom Check List (SCL)-90-R and a questionnaire comprised of questions on sociodemographics and domestic violence exposure. Chi-square, t test and ANOVA were used to analyse data by SPSS 15.0 statistical package programme.
Results: The mean age of women (n=268) participating in the study was 33.7±9.9 years and 51.5% were exposed to domestic violence (psychological, physical, sexual etc.). 18.7 percent of women’s Global Symptom Index was above the cut-off point of “1”, which meant they needed further evaluation of their mental health. Mean Positive Symptom Total scores were found to be higher among women who were low educated, unemployed, married, exposed to domestic violence and women who had numerous children (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The study findings on factors such as low education level, unemployment or exposure to domestic violence which affect women’s mental health in a negative way may guide health workers for being more aware of such risk factors and mental symptoms during health service delivery. There is need for interventions such as in-service training of primary health care workers for easier identification, appropriate management and referral of women with mental symptoms or associated risk factors.
Key words: SCL-90-R, woman, mental health, domestic violence
Learning Objectives: 1)Recognize specific, especially gender related risk factors for women’s mental health 2)Describe why domestic violence is an important public health issue 3)Discuss possible interventions at the primary health care level for women’s mental health promotion
Sub-Theme: Gender discrimination and violence against women