Methods: This cross-sectional predictive study included 284 adult Thai women who received in-patient and out-patient services at a large hospital in Thailand and completed a survey packet including demographic, IPV, family support, friend support, and QOL questionnaires. IPV is defined as the number (0 1, 2, or 3) of forms of violence (physical, psychological, and sexual violence committed by partner) as reported by participants. Family support, the participant’s perception of the degree to which she is cared for, feels loved, and is understood by her family, was measured by the 4-item, 7-point Likert type Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support/Family subscale (Cronbach’s alpha = .87) (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). Friend support, the participant’s perception of the degree to which she is cared for, feels loved, and is understood by her friend(s), was measured by the 4-item, 7-point Likert type Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support/Friend subscale (Cronbach’s alpha = .87) (Zimet et al., 1988). Potential answers for each item range from 1= very strongly disagree to 7 = very strongly agree. Four item scores from each subscale was summed to generate a total family or friend support score with potential scores range from 4 to 28. Higher scores indicate greater friend support or family support. In this study, each type of support will be classified into two levels: high (total score over the median) and low (total score under the median). QOL was measured by the 26-item, 5-point Likert WHOQOL- Brief version (The WHOQOL Group, 1998). Noteworthy, QOL in this study will capture the participant’s overall satisfaction in terms of her five life domains: physical health, psychological health and relationship, self and spirituality, safety and environment, and medical care needs (Ross, Shahrour, Stidham, & Delahanty, 2017) which is different from the original, generic four WHOQOL subscales as proposed by the WHO including psychological, physical, social relationship, and environmental wellbeing (The WHOQOL Group, 1998). Our rationale for using the five subscales instead of the four subscales because the five subscales are more specific to the culture and needs of WIPV in Thailand (Ross et al., 2017) than the four subscales (The WHOQOL Group, 1998). The total subscale score for each QOL dimension was generated by summing up the item scores corresponding to the specific subscale. The higher the score, the better QOL in each dimension (The WHOQOL Group, 1998). Cronbach’s alphas for these five domains are acceptable and ranged from .74 to .80 (Ross et al., 2017). Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation will be used to describe the sample using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24. PROCESS MACRO (Hayes, 2013) will be used to examine the interaction effects of family support and IPV on each QOL domain. Separately, the interaction effects of friend support and IPV on each QOL domain will also be investigated.
Results: This is an ongoing project. Data will be analyzed. Results will be presented at the conference.
Conclusion: Our findings will demonstrate at what point the interaction effects of family and friend support and IPV is beneficial for or harmful to Thai women’s QOL. Subsequently, nurses can devise meaningful family and friend support interventions to mitigate the negative effects of IPV on different QOL domains for women in Thailand and possibly other Southeast Asian cultures. Results from this study can be integrated into nursing courses at nursing schools and into care guides for Thai WIPV and those with similar cultures at health care settings.