Domestic violence and psychological well-being of survivor women in Punjab, Pakistan

Present research examined the effects of four forms of domestic violence (physical, psychological, economic and sexual violence) on psychological well-being of conveniently selected 100 violence survivor women (n= 25 for each form). Age range of the sample was 18-50 years and was selected from the Dar-ul-amaans (shelter homes) of Multan and Bhawalpur cities of Punjab, Pakistan. Research was a mixed method survey research design and as first step Urdu translated version of California Psychological Inventory’s subscale of Well-being (Wb) (1) was used to assess the psychological well-being of these violence survivor women followed by the semi-structured interview; to explore demographic factors in provoking domestic violence and major psychological problems faced by survivor women. Results of One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that the survivors of sexual and physical violence had most impaired psychological well-being as compared to other types of domestic violence survivors (quantitative analysis). The case history reports on the basis of semi structured interviews and previous history record (available in Dar-ul-amaan’s records and consultant psychologist’s files) showed that family and socio-economic factors played a significant role in provoking various types of domestic violence and major psychological problems faced by the surviors were poor self-concept, low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, worthlessness, hopelessness, sleep problems, anhedonia, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression (qualitative analysis).