Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Background
This study was supported by a grant to Dr. Moracco (number R49/CCR322636-01-1) from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
Melissa Roche, MA, is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kathryn E. Moracco, PhD, MPH, is a research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, an adjunct assistant professor
at the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education and an adjunct associate professor at the Department of Maternal and
Child Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She can be reached at moracco@pire.org or 1516 East Franklin Street,
Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.
Kimberly S. Dixon, MSW, is an administrative manager at Duke University.
Elizabeth A. Stern, MPH, is the domestic violence program coordinator at the Duke University Health System.
J. Michael Bowling, PhD, is a research associate professor at the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Methods
Data for this study come from an evaluation of a hospital-based
intervention designed to increase IPV detection and provide
appropriate services to IPV survivors in the emergency department
of a mid-sized community hospital located in an urban, ethnically
diverse county in north central North Carolina. We consecutively
approached all female patients age 18 and older who visited the ED
to receive care for themselves during randomly selected six-hour
shifts within two three-week periods pre and postintervention.
Women were excluded from the study if they showed signs of
cognitive impairment (including intoxication), were in police
custody, did not speak English or Spanish, or were admitted to
the hospital.
Participants completed a two-page self-administered
questionnaire (available in English and Spanish) that included
questions about their demographic characteristics, self-assessed
physical and mental health status, history of IPV, and whether
they were asked about IPV during their ED visit. Respondents
indicated whether they were willing to be called for a 15 to 20
minute phone interview, and if so, they were asked to provide
a safe date, time, and number for project staff to call.
In order to protect patients safety and privacy, participants
were offered one of two versions of the questionnaire. Women
who were unaccompanied or could complete the form alone
received a full version of the questionnaire, which contained
questions about adult lifetime IPV experience and IPV screening
in the ED. Women who could not complete the form in privacy
received an abbreviated version that did not contain questions
90
Results
A total of 346 female patients completed the survey during a
visit to the emergency department, representing 75% of eligible
patients. Of those, 321 completed the full form that included
questions about their personal experience with IPV and 25
Discussion
Our finding that a third of female ED patients have experienced
IPV in their lifetimes is consistent with the high prevalence
Table 1.
Respondent Characteristics (n=321)
%
RACE
African American
White
Latina/Hispanic
Native American
Other
66.4
25.5
2.8
2.5
2.8
AGE GROUPS
18 to 24
25 to 34
35 to 44
45 to 54
55 to 64
65 and over
21.9
24.1
26.3
15.9
7.8
4.1
EDUCATION
Did not complete high school
Completed high school
Some college
Graduated college
23.4
36.8
26.2
13.7
MARITAL STATUS
Single
Married
Separated
Divorced
Widowed
43.9
29.3
9.0
13.4
4.4
27.1
8.8
32.5
27.8
3.7
EXPERIENCED IPV
Hurt or threatened by a partner*
Forced to have sex*
Afraid of a partner*
33.3
24.4
16.3
26.5
91
Table 2.
Patterns of IPV Among Respondents
Reporting IPV (n=107)
Type of IPV
Physically hurt or threatened only
Afraid only
Forced sex only
Physically hurt or threatened and afraid
Afraid and forced sex
Physically hurt or threatened and
forced sex
All three forms of IPV
n
14
12
6
29
11
2
%
13.1
11.2
5.6
27.1
10.3
1.9
33
30.8
Table 3.
Bivariate Analyses of Health Status and Emergency Department Visit with Intimate Partner
Violence (IPV) Among Adult Female Emergency Department Patients (n=321)
Any IPV
Forced to
have sex
Afraid of a
partner
Total
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
(n=321) (n=107) (n=214) (n=78) (n=242) (n=52) (n=268) (n=85) (n=236)
31.4*
43.6
32.4
42.3
34.1
43.5
32.3
35.3
43.0*
21.9
29.9*
17.8*
24.4
21.2
32.7*
19.9*
12.9
23.4**
7.6**
21.8**
10.0**
30.4**
9.4**
21.2**
63.9
71.8*
60.0*
72.4**
61.4**
80.0**
60.7**
72.3
8.4
17.8**
3.7**
20.5**
4.5**
26.9**
4.9**
21.2**
3.8**
4.7
30.8
11.3**
55.7**
1.4**
18.4**
13.0**
61.0**
2.1**
21.3**
17.6**
59.6**
2.2**
25.3**
13.1**
53.6**
1.7**
22.6**
32.4
31.8
32.7
29.5
33.1
26.9
33.2
36.5
30.9
28.1
26.2
29.1
25.6
29.0
23.1
29.2
20.0
31.1
* P < .05
** P < .01
92
Physically hurt
or threatened
27.1
20.0
9.9**
60.9
Table 4.
Logistic Regression Model of Characteristics of Health
Status and Emergency Department Visit History that
Predict Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Among Female
Patients, Controlling for Age, Education, Race, and Marital
Status (n=301)
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