Clinical characteristics, adjustment between the couples and the quality of sexual life of married women who are exposed to physical domestic violence

Objective: The present study was performed to assess the adjustment between the couples in married women who were exposed to domestic violence and the effects of domestic violence on the quality of sexual life. Method: The study included 162 married women between the ages of 18 and 65 years, who were consecutively admitted to the general psychiatry outpatient clinic of Ministry of Health Erenkoy Research and Education Hospital for Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases between 01.06.2017 and 01.09.2017. Structured psychiatric interview (SCID-I) according to the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were performed all individuals participating in the study. The patients included in the study completed the sociodemografic data form, domestic violence questionnaire form, Dyadic Adjustment Scale for Measurement of Marital Quality with Turkish Couples and Quality of Sexual Life Questionnaire. Results: Among the patients who participated in the study, 62 (38.27%) of them had been exposed to domestic physical violence. While 42.0% of those who had not been exposed to domestic physical violence had an arranged/involuntary marriage, the percentage of those who had an arranged marriage among women who were exposed to domestic violence was 61.3%. Women who were not exposed to domestic physical violence had significantly higher scores from the Quality of Sexual Life Questionnaire than that of those who were exposed to domestic physical violence (p<0.001). Furthermore, agreement, satisfaction, adjustment and total subscales of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale were found to be significantly higher in women who were not exposed to domestic physical violence (p<0.001). Discussion: We found in the present study that adjustment between the couples and quality of sexual life was quite low in women who were exposed physical domestic violence. It is quite important that people who are dealing with mental health should not only assess the symptoms of the disease but also the components of the woman's social and cultural background and include domestic violence in the anamnesis.