Citation

Roberts GL, Lawrence JM, Williams GM, Raphael B. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Public Health 1998; 22(7): 796-801.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland. gwen@psychiatry.uq.edu.au

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Public Health Association of Australia, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9889446

Abstract

This longitudinal study aimed to establish a firmer scientific basis for recognition and treatment of post-traumatic psychiatric morbidity associated with domestic violence. The study used a sample of 335 women (mean age 45.5 years) recruited from the Royal Brisbane Hospital Emergency Department. This paper reports baseline data. The outcome measures of lifetime psychiatric diagnoses (DSM-111-R classification), showed that women who reported lifetime adult intimate abuse (n = 162) received significantly more diagnoses of generalised anxiety, dysthymia, depression, phobias, current harmful alcohol consumption and psychoactive drug dependence than those who reported no abuse ever (n = 173). Of the 191 women tested for lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder, those who reported lifetime abuse (n = 115) received significantly more diagnoses than those who reported no abuse (n = 76). Crude prevalence rates of psychiatric diagnoses for women who reported double abuse as child and adult were significantly higher than for women who reported adult intimate abuse only. Adjusted rates showed that doubly abused women had significantly greater risk of current harmful alcohol consumption and lifetime drug dependence than women who reported adult abuse only. A significant independent factor for lifetime psychiatric diagnoses was reporting abuse between a woman's parents. Measurement of the population attributable risk found that one-third of the psychiatric diagnoses were attributable to domestic violence.

Language: en