Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To improve detection of domestic violence as a problem for women seeking primary care, we compared the addition of a single question about domestic violence on an existing self-administered health history form, to discretionary inquiry alone. We studied 689 consecutive new women patients in an internal medicine practice. Domestic violence identification rose from 0% in the control group with discretionary inquiry alone to 11.6% (95% confidence interval 8.8–14.4%) when the health history form included the following question: “At any time has a partner ever hit you, kicked you, or otherwise physically hurt you?” The addition of a single question can increase identification of domestic violence as a problem in patients’ lives.
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Received from the Women’s Health Unit and the Section of General Internal Medicine, Evans Department of Clinical Research, and the Department of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
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Freund, K.M., Bak, S.M. & Blackhall, L. Identifying domestic violence in primary care practice. J Gen Intern Med 11, 44–46 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02603485
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02603485