The impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms on quality of life among battered wives in India amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Battery against women has alarmingly escalated since the COVID-19 Pandemic, resulting in increase in post-traumatic stress disorder and negatively influenced their quality of life. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to find the effect of PTSD on the quality of life among battered wives in Madhya Pradesh, India, during the said plague. METHOD: Two hundred and seventy-seven battered wives, aged 20 years old to 49 years old participated in this study. Purposive sampling method was employed for data collection. The assessment instruments used were the respondents' demographic data, the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale-Interview version DSM-5, and World Health Organization Quality of Life. Whereas, for the quantitative data analysis, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis were used. Furthermore, the demographic details of the participants-age, education, duration of marriage, economic status, types of violence and number of children -severely impacted which added to the posttraumatic stress symptoms among domestically abused women. RESULTS: Findings revealed that posttraumatic stress symptoms were a strong predictor of poor quality of life among battered wives (R2 = 0.587; β = 0.766). The study also has found that the demographic details of the participants-age, education, duration of marriage, economic status, types of violence and number of children were significantly related with vulnerability to posttraumatic stress symptoms among battered women. CONCLUSION: Battered women's mental health conditions continued to be a major issue in India, and psychological interventions were strongly recommended.