Psycho-emotional repercussions of domestic violence: the profile of women on basic healthcare

This research proposes to investigate the socio-demographic profile of the women assisted in a health service and the psycho emotional repercussions of domestic violence on them. This is an exploratory, descriptive study with a quantitative approach, developed at the Cidade Verde Integrated Family Health Unit, in João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. 400 women were interviewed in January and February 2010 and semi-structured interviews were used. From this amount, 211 women (52.75%) were identified with history of domestic violence and composed the study sample. As a profile of the victims of violence, the study showed a high incidence of adults (78.67 %), married (45.04%), earning up to two minimum salaries (72.03%), complete high school level (33.17%), dark skinned victims (46.44%), catholic (50.13%) and housewives (56.87%). The main psycho-emotional impacts included were: sadness, anger and depression. Services of health should serve as places of orientation in the detection of violent events, promoting actions which identify the problem and its coping.