Does Screening for Partner Abuse Reduce Violence?
The Journal of the American Medical Association has a free article on the value of screening for domestic abuse
. We've included the introduction to the article's inclusion in the Journal as well as a link to the text.However, by reading a Medpage article that we also cite which explores and analyzes the conclusions, interventions in a clinic setting have value to prevent continuing abuse.
Screening for Intimate Partner Violence
"Although clinicians are encouraged to screen women for intimate partner violence (IPV), whether screening reduces violence or improves health outcomes is unclear. To investigate these questions, MacMillan and colleagues (SEE ARTICLE) from the McMaster Violence Against Women Research Group randomly assigned women who presented for primary care to receive screening for IPV before seeing a clinician (who would be informed of a positive screen result) or to receive screening after their clinician visit. At an 18-month follow-up, no significant differences in subsequent IPV or quality-of-life scores between groups was found. In an editorial, Moracco and Cole (SEE ARTICLE) discuss the effectiveness of screening and intervention to prevent IPV.
Here are a few paragraphs from that editorial quoted in a Medpage analysis which was published in Medpage since it is not available in free text:
"In an accompanying editorial, Kathryn E. Moracco, PhD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Thomas B. Cole, MD, MPH, a contributing editor at JAMA, suggested that the effectiveness of medical screening for partner violence can't be properly evaluated until there are clinic-based interventions with proven efficacy."
" 'Specific interventions to prevent the recurrence of abuse for women at risk of violence should be implemented and rigorously tested, preferably in randomized trials, without further delay,' they wrote."
" 'The results of the [current study] should dispel any illusions that universal screening with passive referrals to community services is an adequate response to violence in intimate relationships,' they contended."
"In the study, women presenting at 11 emergency departments, 12 family practice centers, and three ob/gyn clinics during an 18-month period beginning in July 2005 were nominally eligible to participate."
"Those younger than 18 or older than 64 were excluded, as were women who did not make their own appointments or who did not have a male partner in the past year. Participation was also limited to those who spoke English, were able to be alone, and were not seriously ill."
"These exclusions meant that, of more than 120,000 women presenting at these clinics, about 87,000 were ineligible. Another 13,000 either refused to provide information to determine eligibility or were missed by the investigators. About 1,500 more who were eligible declined to participate."
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