THE IMPACT OF POSTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER ON PARTNER OF IRANIAN VETERANS

Abstract

Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suffer from distressing and disabling symptoms. Many studies have shown that PTSD symptoms can negatively influence quality of life of their partners. This study was designed to assess general health, marital satisfaction and self-esteem levels of partners of Iranian veterans with PTSD. We performed a case-control study. Cases were comprised of 40 partners of veterans with PTSD. Controls were comprised of 40 married women referred to general health center in Rasht city. Three self report psychometric inventories including General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28), Evaluating and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness questionnaire (ENRICH) and Cooper-Smith inventory-adult form were applied assessing general health, marital satisfaction and self-esteem levels in our subjects. Mean score of GHQ28 questionnaire was 39.77 ± 20.96 in case group and 17.12 ± 9.08 in control group (P = 0.0001, t = 6.269). Average scores of ENRICH questionnaire in case and control groups were 133.7 ± 28.05 and 165.90 ± 31.10 respectively (P = 0.0001, t = 4.861). Mean score of Cooper-Smith test was 29.62 ± 7.89 in cases while it was 39.92 ± 6.36 between controls (P = 0.0001, t = 4.551). We concluded that partners of veterans with PTSD significantly showed lower levels of general health, marital satisfaction and self-esteem than other women. In general, our results demonstrated that partners of veterans with PTSD had lower levels of quality of life comparing other women.