Domestic Violence
One in Three Women Seeking Emergency Medical Care Have Been Victims of Domestic Violence

Newswise - One in three women seeking emergency medical care in inner city hospitals has suffered domestic violence at some point in her life, suggests research in Emergency Medicine Journal.

The authors base their findings on questionnaire responses from 198 women seeking emergency medical treatment at one inner city hospital during the course of 22 nursing shifts covering all times of the day and week. None of the women was drunk, confused, or critically ill.

The responses indicated that physical assault by a sexual partner was the reason for seeking emergency medical care for 1 per cent of the women surveyed. A further 6% said that they had been physically assaulted during the preceding 12 months.

One in three of the women (almost 35%) confessed that they had been the victims of domestic violence at some point during their life. One in 10 said that the abuse had been life threatening.

Three out of four of the women said they did not mind being asked questions about domestic violence while in the emergency medicine department, and well over half (60.5%) felt that they should be routinely asked about these issues.

The authors acknowledge the practical difficulties of surveying women in a busy emergency care facility, with the need to protect women's safety and confidentiality. Nevertheless, it may be easier for women to talk about it when directly asked by emergency medical staff, they say.

Health professionals need to be more proactive in detecting it, they say. "Few health professionals directly ask about domestic violence and most do not consider it as part of their differential diagnosis."

They add: "despite recommendations from professional bodies, little routine health information has been collected or research conducted on the extent to which abused women present to healthcare services."