Association between depression and abuse by partners of women attending general practice: descriptive, cross sectional survey

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between depression and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by partners or ex-partners of women attending general practice. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross sectional survey. SETTING: 30 general practitioners in Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 1257 consecutive female patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Some type of abuse in an adult intimate relationship (composite abuse scale), depression (Beck depression inventory or Edinburgh postnatal depression scale), and physical health (SF-36). RESULTS: 18.0% (218/1213) of women scored as currently probably depressed and 24.1% (277/1147) had experienced some type of abuse in an adult intimate relationship. Depressed w..