Depression among female survivors of domestic violence in Thohoyandou, South Africa

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate depression among female survivors of domestic violence. 112 female survivors of domestic violence who came to a trauma centre in Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province to seek help were selected as participants in the study. The participants' ages ranged from 15 to 65 years. The questionnaire used has items on demographic variables of the participants such as age, marital status, level of education, employment status, number of years married, number of children and also items on depression. A topic guide was also used to interview the participants on depressive symptoms. A significant number of the physically abused women were suffering from depression (z = 2.8434, p