Mental Health and Quality of Life in Ecuadorian Women Exposed to Gender-Based Violence.

Violence Against Women is a global problem that affects millions of women around the world. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the Mental Health and Quality of Life of Ecuadorian women exposed or not exposed to Gender Violence mediated by sociodemographic factors. A total of 433 Ecuadorian women, 18 to 64 years of age, most of whom (69%) reported being exposed to gender violence. Most of the women lived in the province of Pichincha and were selected through a type of nonprobabilistic sampling based on a survey about gender violence. Women exposed to gender violence showed a greater impact on personality profiles, clinical tests, and quality of life in the physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains compared to women not exposed to violence. In addition, these effects were mediated by age, economic level, education, marital status, and exposure to physical violence and psychological or sexual abuse within the socio-family or work contexts. The results of this study could contribute to improving public health systems, showing improvements in care programs for victims of violence.

Clinical Neuropsychological Profile and Quality of Life in Women Who Have Suffered Gender-Based Violence.

Background: This research characterizes the clinical and neuropsychological profiles and the quality of life in a group of Ecuadorian women who suffered physical violence, psychological violence, or sexual violence, exploring their relationships with sociodemographic factors. Methods: A battery of tests were used to explore the clinical and neuropsychological functions and quality of life in 120 participants who were selected from a population affected by violence. Results: Sixty percent of the participants showed clinical anxiety, 26.7% clinical depression, 40% post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, 15% moderate personality disorder, and 51.7% a low quality-of-life index. Their Z-scores in the neuropsychological domains evaluated were verbal memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test = -1.35), working memory (Digits = -1.67), attention (D2 = -1.24), processing speed (Coding = -1.33; Trail Making Test A = 1.81), and executive function (Trail Making Test B = -1.15; Stroop = -0.20; verbal-semantic fluency test = 0.05; verbal fluency test = -1.23). Conclusions: The majority of women who suffered gender-based violence presented clinical levels of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic symptoms. The cognitive functions with lower scores (Z < -1.5) were working memory and processing speed, mediated by education factor.