Depression, Anxiety and Suicidal Behaviors among Domestic Violence Survivors during the lockdown Covid-19 pandemic: The Malaysian COMET-G study

Authors

  • Salmi Razali Faculty of Medicine and Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Farnaza Ariffin Faculty of Medicine and Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia.
  • Yuhaniz Ahmad Department of Statistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia
  • Suzanna Daud Faculty of Medicine and Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Nik Nairan Abdullah Faculty of Medicine and Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Safreeda Salim Faculty of Medicine and Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Fatimah Sham Nursing Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Nuraisyah Abdullah Chua Faculty of Law, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Dina Thukvatullina Centre for Global Public Health, Institute of Population Health Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.

Keywords:

Depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviour, domestic violence, Covid-19, pandemic, lockdown

Abstract

During the COVID-19 lockdown, home isolation increased the opportunity for domestic violence (DV). Being trapped in an abusive situation can lead to mental health problems. This study, part of the larger COMET-G study, a COVID-19 mental health global initiative of more than 40 countries, aimed to determine the prevalence of DV during the pandemic and to compare the differences between depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior of those with and without self-reported DV. It is a cross-sectional survey conducted via online self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire contained a self-reported DV, socio-demographic, and the COMET-G questionnaire on the Risk Assessment Suicidality Scale (RASS), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The total number of participants was 627. The proportion of participants with self-reported DV was 12.4%. Of those who had self-reported DV, the main types of DV were economic (57.7%) and mental abuse (44.9%). Univariate analyses show significant associations between self-reported DV and depression, suicidal intention, and the changes in suicidal tendencies before and during the pandemic. Regression analyses indicate only suicidal intention (p<0.001; OR=1.128; 95%CI=1.043-1.220) and changes in suicide tendency before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001; OR=1.751;95%CI=1.328-2.310) increase the odds for self-reported DV. This study highlights the importance of recognizing the dangers of DV escalation during a pandemic and its link to depression and suicidal ideations among the victims. It also underscores the crucial need for support measures to be put in place to help DV victims, especially during lockdowns.

Downloads

Published

2025-08-02

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Clinical Psychology

License

It is a condition of publication in the Journal that authors assign copyright to the Penerbit, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, using the form available on the Copyright Assignment Form page. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning copyright, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the Journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is notified in writing and in advance.

Our journal offers an open access articles, which is under the Creative Common license type : Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)