Health Stu Fac

JULY 2005

Research
  • IPV Linked to Tobacco and Alcohol Abuse
  • Exposure to Domestic Violence Harms Children's Health

    • Resources and Information
  • VAWA Health: A Detailed Look
  • New Curriculum and Resource Webpage on Intimate Partner Violence for Health Care Providers

    • Announcements
  • 2006 NCHS/Academy Health Fellowship
  • Family Violence Prevention and Health Practice; June 2005 Issue
    • Calendar Notes

    RESEARCH

    IPV Linked to Tobacco and Alcohol Abuse

    Harvard researchers report that a woman who smokes and displays evidence of problem drinking has nearly a one-third likelihood of having been abused by an intimate partner within the preceding 12 months. That percentage jumps to a 54% likelihood of abuse in the course of her lifetime. The findings appear in the May 9, 2005 edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. These findings were drawn from the Women and Family Life Project, a government-funded study that examines the health of battered women. The research was funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

    Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a major public health problem in the United States and victims are commonly encountered in medical settings. Many barriers exist to clinician-initiated screening for IPV. However, smoking and problem drinking are conditions that clinicians commonly screen for and both have been strongly associated with IPV in prior studies. By estimating the predicted probability of 12-month and lifetime IPV for a given patient based on whether she presents with these conditions, this study gives clinicians information that can help them identify patients at risk for IPV.

    Dr. Megan Gerber and her colleagues concluded that the presence of smoking or problem drinking should raise clinicians' suspicion for IPV. This paradigm should not replace direct questioning about IPV, but may aid in detection of abuse in patient populations.

    A written survey was administered to 2,386 female medical patients throughout the greater Boston area. The probabilities of 12-month and lifetime abuse by an intimate partner were estimated based on women's reports of their smoking and drinking behaviors. Women who neither smoked nor drank in the study still had a 10% likelihood of abuse in the preceding year and a nearly 40% chance of lifetime abuse, illustrating how common this problem is in medical populations.

    Source: Medical News Today; Released Tuesday May 25, 2005

    Exposure to Domestic Violence Harms Children's Health

    Being abused, exposed to domestic violence and having a mother who abuses substances are associated with a high number of health problems for low-income pre-school children. In fact, the mother’s poor health and the child’s level of trauma are the strongest predictors of poor child health. These are among the findings of a study entitled Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Symptoms as Additional Predictors of Health Problems in High-Risk Children published in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

    Researchers looked at 160 pre-school age children from low-income Michigan families, and found that three in four (78 percent) had been exposed to some form of violence, either in the home or the community. Nearly half (46.7 percent) of the children in the study had been exposed to at least one incident of mild or severe violence in their family. The children who were exposed to violence suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares, and were at greater risk than their peers of having allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and flu. Children experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder had four times the risk of asthma and gastrointestinal problems than their peers.

    The study is authored by Dr. Sandra A. Graham-Bermann, PhD and Julie Seng, PhD, CNM. They write: “Although stopping intrafamilial and community violence may be daunting projects beyond the scope of health care providers’ direct practice, clinical interventions to increase the mother’s safety and improve her ability to protect her child are of the highest priority. Child traumatic stress symptoms are also treatable, and referring violence-exposed child patients to group or individual therapy specifically aimed at bolstering their power to cope and at reducing post-traumatic stress reactions may be effective in preventing some of the adult [consequences] of these adverse childhood events.”

    RESOURCES AND INFORMATION

    VAWA Health: A Detailed Look

    Doctors and nurses, like police officers on the beat, are often the first witnesses of the devastating aftermath of abuse. As first responders, they must be fully engaged in the effort to end the violence and possess the tools they need to faithfully screen, treat and study family violence. Title V of the VAWA 2005 bill strengthens the health care system’s response to family violence with programs to train and educate health care professionals on domestic and sexual violence, foster partnerships between advocacy groups and public health officials, and new research on ramifications of health care interventions with victims.

    Section 503 of the bill provides $3 million in grants each year from 2006 through 2010 for training medical and other health professional students on recognizing and appropriately responding to domestic and sexual violence. Section 504 of the bill authorizes $5 million each year from 2006 through 2010 in grants to foster public health responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Section 505 authorizes $5 million each year from 2006 through 2010 for research on effective interventions in the health care setting to address domestic violence.

    “These lawmakers did a great service to the nation by introducing a strong Violence Against Women Act,” said Family Violence Prevention Fund President Esta Soler. “If it is fully funded, strengthened and passed, this bill can do a tremendous amount to prevent violence of all kinds, and to help victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.”

    To learn more about the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, visit www.endabuse.org/vawa or contact Kiersten Stewart at (202) 682-1212 or Kiersten@endabuse.org.

    New Curriculum and Resource Webpage on Intimate Partner Violence for Health Care Providers

    The Vermont Network Office, in collaboration with the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Medical Society, has created a health care provider-focused curriculum, which includes power point lectures with extensive lecture notes, handouts and exercises for the participants, videos, and materials to organize a community resource panel as well as a detailed facilitator’s guide. It is designed to be facilitated by a teaching team including both health care professionals and domestic violence advocates. The four units can be implemented in 4-6 hours, either in four separate sessions or in one full-day training.

    The statewide Health Care and Intimate Partner Violence Leadership Team is currently discussing strategies to make this curriculum available to Vermont health care providers and to recruit and train future facilitators. If you have questions, comments or ideas regarding this project, please contact the Health Care Project Coordinator at (802) 223-1302 or vtnetwork@vtnetwork.org.

    The Vermont Medical Society together with the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence has also developed a new resource webpage on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) for health care practitioners. The webpage provides state-of-the-art information, tools, resources and links specifically designed for clinicians, administrators and educators working in health care and public health settings to enhance the health care response to intimate partner violence. To view this new resource, please visit http://www.vtmd.org/Domestic%20Violence/DVHome.html.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    2006 NCHS/Academy Health Fellowship

    The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), CDC, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and AcademyHealth

    This program brings visiting scholars in health-services-research-related disciplines to NCHS to use NCHS data systems and collaborate on studies of interest to policymakers and the health services research community. Each year, up to two individuals will be selected for the fellowship. The duration of the full time fellowship is 13-24 months, beginning in September 2006 to January 2007. Applicants must demonstrate training or experience in health services research and methodology, reflecting disciplines such as: Public Health, Public Administration, Healthcare Administration, Statistics, Sociology, Economics, or Behavioral Sciences. Applications are welcomed from doctoral students (who have completed course work and are at their dissertation phase) through senior researchers/faculty. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The deadline for receipt of applications is Monday, January 9, 2006. For more information, email nchs@academyhealth.org.

    Family Violence Prevention and Health Practice; June 2005 Issue

    The Family Violence Prevention Fund announces the release of the second issue of Family Violence Prevention and Health Practice, an electronic journal dedicated to addressing family violence in the health care and public health setting.

    This issue includes articles on: Evaluating the Implementation of Hospital-based Domestic Violence Programs, Lessons about Recruiting Primary Care Practices to Domestic Violence Trainings, Targeted IPV Education: Sustained Change in Rural and Mid-sized Medical Settings, and Medical Student Exposure to Family Violence Issues: A Model Curriculum.

    To access the journal and/or subscribe now, visit http://endabuse.org/health/ejournal.

    CALENDAR NOTES

    National Conference on Sexual Violence Prevention and Intervention

    September 26- 30, 2005, Pittsburgh, PA

    The National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape will sponsor conferences in Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh. The Institute for People of Color Who are Working to End Sexual Violence will hold a dinner cruise reception on September 26 and a day long forum on strategies to address barriers that providers of color face on September 27. The National Sexual Assault Conference seminars will focus on emerging issues within the anti-sexual violence field on September 28-30. For more information visit www.nsvrc.org or www.pcar.org.

    Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day

    October 12, 2005

    Join health care professionals and domestic violence advocates by taking part in the Family Violence Prevention Fund’s Seventh Annual Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day. A free organizing packet is available online at www.endabuse.org/hcadvd. It provides participants with national consensus guidelines on how to institute routine assessment for domestic violence, simple steps health care providers can take to improve their response to domestic violence, patient and provider educational materials and organizing ideas for October 12th activities. To learn more about this event, please visit the web site or call the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence to request a free copy of the organizing packet at 800-595-4889.

    Immigrant Violence Grantee Training and Annual Meeting

    November 6-11, 2005, Orange County, CA

    The Family Violence Prevention Fund, Legal Momentum and Advanced Special Immigrant Survivors Technical Assistance (ASISTA) are organizing a series of events for the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women (NNEVAIW) in November. The Office on Violence Against Women Training for domestic violence and sexual assault providers is scheduled for November 6th to 8th. The tenth annual meeting of NNEVAIW is November 9th to 11th and will include plenary and workshop sessions addressing issues affecting immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking. Hotel and registration information will be available in August. For information, contact Legal Momentum at 202/326-0040.

    Empowering Communities to Bridge Health Divides: Unite For Sight's 3rd Annual International Health Conference

    April 1-2, 2006, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520

    Unite For Sight encourages you to submit a proposal for a poster presentation at their 2006 International Health Conference. Unite for Sight's conference is for all professionals and students involved in medicine, health education, health promotion, public health, and international service. Its purpose is to provide an international forum for the exchange of ideas about original health and medical research and international. All abstract submissions must be submitted electronically by August 15, 2005. Details about the conference are available at http://www.uniteforsight.org/2006_annual_conference.php.

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Posters do NOT need to be related to eye care. Topics may focus generally on medicine and/or bridging health divides.

    Health Students and Faculty Against Domestic Violence is a monthly listserv aimed to network health students and faculty from across the country who are interested in improving the health sector response to domestic violence. To subscribe email arunavenk@gmail.com.

    We encourage you to use this listserv to announce upcoming events you are planning or to pose questions to the group. To post an announcement or ask a question, send an e-mail to arunavenk@gmail.com.

    The listserv is moderated by Aruna Venkatesan, Health Intern with the Family Violence Prevention Fund and First Year Medical Student at the University of California, San Francisco

    Thank you for contributing to our community!

    To learn more please visit our website http://www.endabuse.org/health