Women in their peak childbearing years are at increased risk for experiencing violence by their intimate partners. Reproductive health care services provide an important point of contact where women can receive screening for violence and can receive appropriate intervention or referrals. In 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collected data from a national sample of publicly-funded, Title X family planning clinics to examine: 1) use of clinical guidelines for identifying women who experience intimate partner violence, and 2) current clinical practice and perceived barriers to screening women for intimate partner violence. The presentation will highlight results in five major areas: 1) baseline data on the types of protocols currently in use in family planning clinics; 2) barriers among individual providers to identifying and treating victims of intimate partner violence; 3) clinician feedback on the types of training they feel they need most; and 4) general characteristics of clinics that have successfully implemented clinical protocols and provided recent and periodic training for clinicians in the area of intimate partner violence. Analyses from this rich data source will assist clinics and state and federal agencies to plan for and develop training strategies to increase screening for violence in reproductive health settings.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to: 1)Recognize the important role that reproductive health care providers can play in identifying and assisting women who experience violence. 2)Describe the current level of training and expertise existing in publicly-funded family planning clinics and identify training needs for the future. 3)Define 5 steps that can be taken based on these data to support clinics and health care providers to institute awareness of and screening for violence among family planning providers.
Keywords: Domestic Violence, Screening
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.