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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1456909
This article is part of the Research Topic Sexual Violence in Times of Conflict View all 4 articles

Symptoms of Common Mental Disorders and Suicidality among Female Survivors of War Related Sexual and Gender Based Violence in One Stop Centers of The Amhara Region, Ethiopia. A Multicenter Cross-Sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Tsion Michael Tsion Michael 1Solomon Moges Demeke Solomon Moges Demeke 2*
  • 1 Finish Refuge Council, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 2 College of Health Science, Woldia University, Woldia, Amhara, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Common mental disorders (CMDs) and suicidality are two of the most common psychological and mental health issues associated with acute and chronic sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of symptoms of CMDs, and suicidality among females experienced SGBV in Ethiopia.A cross-sectional study was conducted among 407 female survivors of SGBV in the One Stop Centers of the Amhara region. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. The odds ratio at a p-value of 0.05 was used to determine the strength of the association of the independent variables with CMDs and suicidality.A total of 407 women participated in the study. Suicidality was reported by a quarter of the survivors (24.1%), while CMDs were reported by nearly two-thirds (61.7%).Being widowed (AOR = 3.0, 95% CI = 3.0 [1.22, 7.66]), having a family history of mental illnesses (AOR = 7.1, 95% CI = 7.1 (4.07, 12.39)), being low-income (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI = 2.8 [1.64, 5.06]), and current drug use (AOR = 2.9, 95% CI = 2.9 [1.63, 5.16]) were all linked with CMDs. Having a history of abortion (AOR = 4.1, 95% CI = 4.1 [1.9, 8.5]), CMDs (AOR = 4.6, 95% CI = 4.6 [2.0, 10.74]), and history of suicide (AOR = 3.41, 95% CI = 3.41 [1.22, 9.55]) were some of the characteristics that were substantially linked with suicidality.Females with SGBV had a high prevalence of CMDs and suicidality and calls for comprehensive remedies.

    Keywords: Common mental disorders, Suicidality, Sexual and gender based violence, Amhara, Ethiopa

    Received: 29 Jun 2024; Accepted: 27 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Michael and Demeke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Solomon Moges Demeke, College of Health Science, Woldia University, Woldia, Amhara, Ethiopia

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