Intimate Partner Violence in Primary Settings and Consequences in Mental Health

Abstract Background: The Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) remains a major public health concern in community. Women and men can commit violence or can be victims of psychological and physical abuse by their partners. Aim: In this research we study the correlation between the Intimate Partner Violence, which is a social scourge of our age, and depression, which is also a major problem of community to people visited the Primary Health Greek System. Methodology: We evaluated the Intimate Partner Violence using the HITS scale, a short tool and also studied the mental health of those who involved with the PHQ-9 scale in Primary Health Care in Greek population. Results: The survey consisted from a sample of 142 people who visited the Clinic of General Medicine at the Primary Health Centre of Ioannina and through emailing and social net. The Cronbach’s a coefficient was 0.89, suggesting a good, almost excellent, internal consistency. The PHQ-9 score had an average value of 5.13 (standard deviation, 5.01). Our sample was composed of 18 men (12.7%) and 124 (87.3%) women. The majority of study participants scored in the low range of the scales, to the non-victim category and show minimal depression. Analysing separately the four items of HITS and PHQ-9, we observed participants of lower education and those living in rural areas displaying the highest average scores. PHQ-9 is positively associated with HITS score, while Spearman’s correlation coefficient being as high as r=0.88. Conclusions: The Intimate Partner Violence effects mental health of the victims and can produce severe depression and other mental disorders. More research can be done in order to develop effective programs to prevent and management violence from the primary settings. Key Words: Intimate Partner Violence, Mental Disorders, Depression, Primary Health Care, Psychological Abuse, HITS, PHQ-9. International Journal of Caring Sciences January– May 2017 Volume 10 | Issue 1| Page 18 Background The Intimate Partner Violence is a major public health problem for the community (Sully, Greenway & Reeves, 2005). In 2010, 30% of women reported as victims of physical and sexual abuse by their partner during their lifetime (Butchart, Garcia-Moreno & Mikton, 2010). In a research that conducted in 2010 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that in Greece the percentage of victims of physical and sexual violence recorded by the FRA was 6% and the percentage of victims of psychological violence was 33 % (FRA 2014). Millions of children, women and men experience daily inhuman, cruel consequences of violence at home, at school and in the community. The lives of victims who have suffered violence tend to change dramatically. Many of the victims acquire addictions (alcohol, drugs), have depression that can lead up to suicide and create problematic interpersonal relationships (Chan, Clark & Fedotov, 2014). Individuals who had suffered physical and psychological violence showed an increased incidence of depression, chronic diseases and chronic mental illnesses (Coker et al, 2002). Big blow also noted in the field of health care as people who are abused increases costs to 8.3 billion spent on health services, abstaining from work in case of injury or death. Additionally the cost increases when prosecuted, defended and imprisonment(Max et al, 2004). In our research we examined the Intimate Partner Violence (violence from a spouse or partner against the other spouse/partner) in Primary Health Care in a population of Greek patients and through emailing and social net using the HITS questionnaire, a screening tool for domestic violence, easy for the health care providers to remembered by the acronym “HITS” (Sherin et al, 1998) and easy to fill in by the patients (Chen PH. et al 2005), while we further recorded the psychological state of the participants implementing the PHQ-9 scale. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a potentially tool for diagnosis and management of depression and other mental disorders (Arroll et al, 2010). Likewise HITS, PHQ-9 is brief, freely available and widely used in clinical practice (Kroenke, Spitzer & Williams, 2001). In this article we study the correlation between Intimate Partner Violence and depression. Does the depressed mood constitute predisposing factor for triggering violence and vice versa the violence affects the mental health of victims causing them mental health disorders? The health care professionals working in Primary Health Care have the difficult work to detect and management the victims of Intimate Partner Violence and the negative effects on physical and mental health of these people resulting an increased cost in the healthcare sector. Methodology Intimate Partner Violence is a pattern of abusive behavior between individuals taking place within a domestic environment. Victims of Intimate Partner Violence are irrespective culture, society, sex or economic status, while it can be met in both forms of verbal or physical abuse. Ethical Approval The study was approve