The Quality of Life of Women with Addicted Husbands and its Related Factors in Gorgan, Iran

Background: Substance abuse can cause problems for family members, especially spouses, and impair the addicts' quality of life; hence, it seems necessary to identify issues that can endanger their quality of life and health. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the quality of life of women with addicted husbands, and its related factors. Methods: We conducted the present cross-sectional study on ۳۰۰ women with addicted husbands who were in the list of clients of private and public addiction treatment centers in Gorgan in ۲۰۱۸. The convenient sampling was used for recruited participants. We gathered data using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), the higher scores indicated a better quality of life. We also analyzed the data in SPSS ۱۶ using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests at a ۹۵% confidence interval. Results: The results indicated that women with addicted husbands had lower mean scores of physical health (۳۳.۳±۱۹.۱), mental health (۲۸±۳.۱۹), environmental health (۳۱.۵±۱۸.۱), social relationship (۳۰.۲±۲۱.۴), and total scores of quality of life (۳۱±۱۸). There were significant correlation between scores of quality of life and its dimensions with women's job, family income, duration of substance abuse, and type of substance (P<۰.۰۰۱). Also, the quality of life was directly associated with women's jobs and family income, but inversely related to the husband's duration of substance abuse and type of substance. Conclusion: Women with addicted husbands needed more support due to their low quality of life. These findings help the healthcare provider pay more attention to the problems of women with addicted husbands.