Quality of life of victims of intimate partner violence.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the impact of intimate partner violence on the quality of life in Obstetric/Gynecological (OBGYN) patients.


METHODS
A total of 1614 OBGYN patients were classified into four groups (Group 1: requesting termination of pregnancy, n=300; Group 2: infertility patients, n=500; Group 3: other general gynecological patients, n=300; Group 4: obstetric patients, n=514) were successfully interviewed in the absence of their male partners, using a structured questionnaire modified from the Abuse Assessment Screen Questionnaire. Those who reported ever having been abused, together with an equal number of non-abused women as controls, were asked to complete the World Health Organization Quality of Life Measure - Abbreviated version (Hong Kong) Questionnaire.


RESULTS
The overall lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence was 7.2%, with the lifetime prevalence being 12.7%, 1.8%, 4.7%, and 10.9% respectively in Groups 1-4. The mean quality of life domain scores among the abused victims were significantly lower in the physical health domain, social relationship domain, environment domain and psychological health domain.


CONCLUSIONS
The baseline quality of life of the victims of intimate partner violence is significantly impaired compared with the non-abused controls.
Leung
T W
TW
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China. twleung@hkucc.hku.hk
Leung
W C
WC
Ng
E H Y
EH
Ho
P C
PC
D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires