Coping mechanism, psychological distress and counselling acceptance among victims of domestic violence in Malaysia

Domestic violence is a worldwide problem that is unaffected by race, age, culture, or gender. It charges have been on the rise in Malaysia in recent years. Thus this study was conducted to examine the inherent differences in coping mechanism and psychological distress among victims of domestic violence by counselling acceptance. A quasi-experimental design involving measures at baseline and three months follow-up was used. All domestic violence victims (N = 58) between September 2018 to March 2019 were recruited from a government funded victim care centre. Three Bahasa Malaysia translated versions of instruments were used: Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced. Findings showed no significant differences between domestic violence victims who accepted counselling vs those who did not in terms of sociodemographic factors except for duration of abuse. Counselling acceptance rates were minimal as only 50% of participants accepted counselling. Both groups favoured approach coping mechanism (n=41, 70.69 %) compared to avoidant coping mechanism (n=10, 17.24 %). There was a significant reduction in symptoms of depression (BDI: r =0.82, p < .05) and anxiety (BAI: r= 0.71, p < .05) for both groups when levels were examined at 3 months follow-up. There is a need to examine ways to increase counselling acceptance rates among victims of domestic violence. Overall, this study offers insight into counselling acceptance rates and its psychological correlates among domestic violence victims at a single centre.

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