The Relationship and Predicting Role of Sleep Quality and Sexual Self-esteem in Secondary Post-traumatic Stress Disorder among Wives of Veterans

Wives of veterans, due to close relationship and taking care of them, are identified as secondary or hidden victims of trauma. This indirect exposure to a stressful event brings psychological consequences for them.

The current study aimed at determining the relationship and predicting role of sleep quality and sexual self-esteem in secondary post-traumatic stress disorder among wives of veterans.

The present descriptive-analytical study was performed on 152 wives of veterans with secondary post-traumatic stress disorder in Kermanshah Province, Iran in 2019. The subjects were selected by purposive sampling method. To collect data, the Pittsburgh sleep inventory, sexual self-esteem index for woman-short form (validation by Farokhi & Shareh), and secondary trauma questionnaire (STQ) were used. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 25 using Pearson correlation coefficient and simple linear regression.

According to the findings, the mean ± standard deviation scores of sleep quality, sexual self-esteem, and secondary traumatic stress disorder were 13.00±3.88, 59.11±11.88, and 63.43±10.53, respectively. The results indicated a positive and significant relationship between low sleep quality and secondary traumatic stress (r= 0.345, P<0.01). In addition, there was a significant and negative correlation between sexual self-esteem and secondary traumatic stress (r = -0.298, P<0.01). The results of regression analysis showed that 32% of changes in secondary traumatic disorder can be explained by sleep quality and sexual self-esteem.

Given the important role of sleep quality and sexual self-esteem in the predicting secondary traumatic stress disorder, it is suggested to consider the role of these factors in intervention programs for secondary traumatic stress disorder.