Psychological distress and attempted suicide in female victims of intimate partner violence: an illustration from the Philippines context
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-08-2013-0057 |
| Published date | 09 December 2014 |
| Date | 09 December 2014 |
| Pages | 197-210 |
| Author | Diddy Antai,David Anthony |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Public mental health |
Psychological distress and attempted
suicide in female victims of intimate partner
violence: an illustration from the Philippines
context
Diddy Antai and David Anthony
Dr Diddy Antai is a Senior
Lecturer in Public Health,
based at Health Services
Research & Management
Department, City University
London, London, UK.
Dr David Anthony, based at
Division of Global Health &
Inequalities, The Angels Trust,
Federal Capital Territory,
Nigeria.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the prevalence of, and determined the factors associated
with self-reported symptoms of suicide attempts and psychosocial distress among female victims of
intimate partner violence (IPV).
Design/methodology/approach – Using cross-sectional data from 13,594 women aged 15-49 years
from the 2008 Philippines Demographic and Health Surveys, the authors measured univariate prevalence,
conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses using logistic regression models to examine the associations
between outcomes, exposures, and potential explanatory variables.
Findings – In total, 47 and 8 per cent of the women reported psychological distress, and suicide attempts
following IPV,respectively. Physical and psychological IPVoccurred in 7 per cent of the women, respectively,
whilst sexual IPV occurred in 5 per cent of the women. Multivariate analyses showed significant association
between physical and psychological IPV and suicide attempt, as well as psychological distress.
Research limitations/implications – This study extends the knowledge about the interaction between
IPV,suicide attempts, and psychological distress by redirecting the attention to more systemic expressions
of the excess burden of IPV among abused women.
Practical implications – It highlights the significance of screening for the presence of, and accumulated
effect of IPV exposures as a risk factor for suicide attempt and psychological distress.
Social implications – Since IPV is a product of gendered norms and power relations, the extent to which
exposure to IPV results in poor mental health outcomes is determined by the interplay between societal
gender norms and attitudes, poverty, and psychological distress.
Originality/value – Given that most of the literature on the association between traumatic events,
psychosocial stress, and suicidality derive from high-income countries, they do not reflect cultural
differences within the context of low-middle-income countries like the Philippines, or be generalizable to the
low-middle-income countries.
Keywords Intimate partner violence, Psychological distress, Suicide attempts, The Philippines
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Psychiatric disorders remain some of the strongest predictors of suicidal behaviour (Nock et al.,
2008a), and individuals who attempt suicide often have a psychiatric illness (Mann, 2002; Sher
et al., 2001). However, 31-57 per cent of suicide attempts are not linked with prior psychiatric
disorder (Nock et al., 2009), thus, stressing the need to elucidate other potential predictors of
suicidal behaviour. Increasing interest is being placed on understanding how environmental
factors, such as exposure to psychological trauma, influence suicidal behaviour (Stein et al.,
2010), which have a greater influence on the occurrence of such negative psychological
The author is grateful to Opinion
Research Corporation Macro
International, Incorporated (ORC
Macro Inc.), Calverton, USA for the
data used in this study. Conflict of
interest: The authors have no
conflicts of interest with the material
presented in this paper.
DOI 10.1108/JPMH-08-2013-0057 VOL. 13 NO. 4 2014, pp. 197-210, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729
j
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH
j
PAGE 197
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