Analysis of the cycle of domestic violence against women

Abstract

Introduction: Violence against Women (VAW) has been produced under the hierarchical organization of male dominance in social relations between genders. It is a type of social relationship that is historically bounded, culturally legitimized and cultivated, in which the woman is exposed to objective and subjective aggression, both in public as well as private sectors. The consequences of the violence suffered by women materialize in biological, psychological and social harms that hamper them fully experiencing human and social equalities. The persistence and the multiplicity of forms of expressing violence against women, throughout history, indicate the importance of the theme and the need to investigate how this practice interferes with the process of living, illness and death of the victim. Objective: To analyse the cycle of domestic violence against women. Methods: This is a population-based survey, and cross-sectional, exploratory and descriptive study, using a quantitative approach. The study was conducted in the city of Joao Pessoa-PB, from August 2013 to December 2015. The population consisted of 424 women over 18 years old, and residing in the city of study. For data collection, two instruments were used: the WHO VAW STUDY and the WHOQOL BREF scale, validated for assessing quality of life. A descriptive analysis was performed, from absolute and relative frequencies for the following variables: sociodemographic; Domestic Violence against Women (DVAW) and QOL, in addition to the average for continuous variables; under CAAE number 20418813.0.0000.5183. Results: The women averaged an overall score of 61.59 for the quality of life index, on a scale from 0 to 100. Regarding scores for each domain, the domain of social relations had the highest average among the domains (69.84), whereas the environment domain had the lowest average (51.03). Conclusions: Domestic Violence against Women directly and adversely affects the quality of life of the victimized women in numerous aspects, because it interferes with the physical and psychological health of women in society and in their social relations, also bringing consequences for the health system.