Effects of Feminist Therapy in managing Depression and Self-esteem of Intimate Partner Violence among Married Women in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of feminist therapy in managing depression and self- esteem of intimate partner violence among married women in Ekiti state Nigeria. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested to guide the study. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest and control group design was adopted. All married women experiencing intimate partner violence constituted the population for the study. A multi-stage sampling was used to select 50 married women from four local government area councils in Ekiti state. Snowball sampling technique was used to select 25 participants for the study; 15 participants in the treatment group and 10 participants in the control group. The research instruments for collection of relevant data were the Goldberg Depression Questionnaire (GDQ) and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES). The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). All Hypotheses were tested and at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that participants’ level of depression and self-esteem were significant when exposed to feminist therapy compared with the control group. The study concluded that feminist therapy enhances self-esteem and reduces symptoms of depression. The study therefore recommended counselling for intending couples on how to manage their relationship. It also recommended that mental health professionals should integrate feminist therapy as a treatment for abused married women to reduce psychosocial problems.