Domestic violence and its relationship with depression, anxiety and quality of life: A hidden dilemma of Pakistani women

OBJECTIVES: To find out the relationship of domestic violence with depression, anxiety and quality of life in married women in hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. METHODS: This co-relational study was conducted in Rawalpindi Institute of Health Sciences from January 2019 to December 2019. All the females’ patients who were the victim of domestic violence were the population of the study. Consecutive non-probability sampling technique was used for selection of sampling from the target population. The inclusion criterion for this study was diagnosed case of domestic violence. DASS 21 (The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) and Quality of life (WHO) scales were administered to 116 patients. RESULTS: The study’s key results were that domestic abuse has positive relationship with depression, anxiety, and stress. It was also found that domestic abuse has a negative relationship with quality of life of those who have been subjected to domestic violence of this sort. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that domestic violence whether verbal, physical, emotional or sexual has strongly effects the mental health and quality of life of abused women.