Post-traumatic stress disorder among Chinese women survivors of intimate partner violence: a review of the literature

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most prevalent mental health sequelae of intimate partner violence, and as a result, it has been extensively documented in Western literature. However, whether abused women from non-Western cultures experience similar post-traumatic responses to intimate partner violence is less documented.

Objectives: The objectives of this paper were (1) to review the literature for information about post-traumatic stress disorder among Chinese women survivors of intimate partner violence; (2) to provide a synthesis of the literature on post-traumatic stress disorder among abused Chinese women; and (3) to identify implications for practice and to suggest directions for research relating to post-traumatic stress disorder among abused Chinese women.

Design: A systematic review of the literature.

Data sources: Following a systematic search for relevant literature in computerized databases and manual searches of English and Chinese language publications, five papers reporting on four studies conducted in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the United States were included in the review.

Review methods: Abstracts meeting the inclusion criteria were reviewed independently by two of the authors and any discrepancies were resolved by discussion. Full papers for selected abstracts were then retrieved and assessed independently by the same reviewers.

Results: The present literature review revealed a paucity of information relating to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms or diagnoses in abused Chinese women. Nevertheless, a link between post-traumatic stress disorder and intimate partner violence was demonstrated by the reviewed papers.

Conclusions: Caution should be exercised when making comparison of the findings across the four studies because of the inherent methodological differences. Also, as the assessment tools have not been validated for culture-bound interpretation of trauma and symptom manifestation, comparisons of findings for Chinese women to women in Western literature should be undertaken with due consideration. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are discussed.