Clinical and psychopathological profile of Tunisian Women victims of domestic violence

Abstract

Introduction Partner violence is a serious public health problem.International studies have well-explored the psychological aspects of domestic violence, but few explored the clinical profile of women victims of violence Objectives To define the clinical and psychopathological profile of women victims of domestic violence Methods We contacted 75 women who consulted at the psychiatric emergency of ‘HediChaker hospital’Sfax -Tunisia whowhere consulting in the context of medical expertise for domestic violence, on the period between May until October 2021 An anonymous survey was asked to these ladies Results The age oscillates between 18 and 64 years 86.7% of the participants were married for the first time, and 24% had at least one child. In 48% of the cases, the victims and their partners had an average socio-economic level. 66.7% don’t have a job. 6.7 % had toxic habits: 5.3% were smoking 22.7% had psychiatric follow: 14.3% for depressive disorder, 7% for bipolar disorder and 1.4% for anxiety Following a physical assault by the spouse, 37.3% of women consulted medical emergency and 21.3% consulted psychiatric emergency. The prevalence of potentially traumatic life events was 29.3%:16% were victim of parental violence and 13.3% suffered from sexual abuse. Conclusions This study shows that the prevalenceof domestic violence is higher among young working women. This work underlines also the necessity of a systematic screening of different aspects of violence in emergency medical or psychiatric servicesin order to provide for these ladies the necessary psychological support Disclosure No significant relationships.