Post-traumatic responses of abused women to marital violence

The objectives of this study were to explore the post-traumatic responses of abused women to marital violence and to examine the correlation between these responses and demographics. This study aimed to raise awareness of post-traumatic responses in abused women among health care providers, who are supposed to pay more attention to this problem. A cross-sectional survey-interview with structured questionnaires was used. Subjects were recruited from the Kaohsiung area. Of the 127 women who participated in this study, 109 (85.8%) completed the questionnaires. The most frequent post-traumatic response was: "I had a strong feeling toward this thing." The least frequent response was: "I felt it seemed that this thing had never happened or it was not true." The standardized mean score of the intrusion subscale (3.12) was higher than that of the avoidance subscale (1.84). The more children an abused woman had, the fewer avoidance responses she exhibited. Of the abused women, 93.6% had a high post-traumatic response score (> or = 19). The results indicate that marital violence leads to post-traumatic responses in abused women in Taiwan. The results can help health care providers to identify post-traumatic responses of abused women at an early stage and can also provide information for planning further treatment strategies for abused women.