Depressive Symptoms in Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

The study was a cross-sectional examination of African American women positive for intimate partner violence (IPV) who presented to the medical or psychiatric emergency department (ED) for treatment. African American women with a recent history of IPV who presented following an attempted suicide (n = 100) were compared to demographically comparable African American women who were IPV positive who had not attempted suicide and presented for treatment of another condition(n= 100). Women completed face-to-face interviews on several measures, including demographics and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Overall, there were no demographic differences between cases and controls. Attempters reported statistically significant higher scores on all 21 BDI-II items than did nonattempters. Four BDI-II items had effect size values in the medium range: sadness, self-dislike, suicidal thoughts, and feelings of worthlessness. These four items can be used as a brief screen in the ED to detect female patients positive for IPV at increased risk for suicidal behavior.