Beyond urban places: responding to intimate partner violence in rural and remote areas.

Intimate partner violence is a recognized public health problem impacting the lives of women, families, and communities. Women in rural and more remote areas who experience IPV face unique barriers and challenges to accessing healthcare services to support healthy outcomes. Resources, access to services, presence of compassionate and informed healthcare providers, and environmental circumstances influence effective responses to this issue in rural and more remote areas. In a public health approach to this problem, prevention efforts, victim-centered responses, and the support of safety are imperative to improve outcomes for women. Forensic nurses play an important role in effective response by building linkages across health, human, and social systems through collaboration, partnership, activism, advocacy, and sensitivity to the issue across the rural landscape.

Perceived risk, severity of abuse, expectations, and needs of women experiencing intimate partner violence.

This prospective, descriptive, correlational study examined perceived risk, severity of abuse, expectations, and needs of women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) with arrest of the offender occurring at the time of incident. This study builds on previous research completed on fear and expectations of female victims/survivors of IPV that come to the attention of police, to expand knowledge of women's experiences once they enter the criminal justice system and to create a comprehensive response to this recognized public health problem (). Forty-three women were interviewed regarding the incident, relationship, and experience. Most of the women in this study reported experiencing mild violence and varied forms of threats. There was a significant relationship between the experience of mild violence, serious violence, sexual violence, threats to victims, threats to objects, and others and nonverbal threats with fear of the offender. However, there were no significant correlations between levels of violence or threats with perceived risk of future physical abuse. As the criminal justice response to this crime has changed with the development of legislation and laws aimed at keeping women safe and holding offenders accountable, further research is needed to understand the experience of IPV victims and support an informed response. Forensic nurses are critical interdisciplinary team members in these efforts and play a significant role in providing expertise, sharing of knowledge, and application of evidence fostering victim-centered approaches to addressing IPV.

Rape-accepting attitudes of university undergraduate students.

The College Date Rape Attitudes Survey and the Attitudes Toward Women Scale were used in a cross-sectional study to assess rape-accepting attitudes of a convenience sample of 1602 university undergraduate students using a survey distributed online. The findings evidenced that males and individuals with more traditional gender role beliefs had attitudes more accepting of rape than the females and individuals who had more egalitarian gender role beliefs. Respondents who personally knew a rape survivor had attitudes less accepting of rape than those respondents who did not know a survivor. These findings support a continuing need to address rape myths in sexual violence prevention programming. The sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE-A) has an important role in prevention services to educate and build awareness of rape myths both on campus and through community-based efforts to reach this high risk population. Further, the SANE can build important linkages between the college campus and the healthcare setting to support the provision of effective intervention services and improved outcomes in victims of sexual violence.

Mobile interprofessional wellness care of rural older adults.

This article describes the outcomes of an innovative program developed to deliver mobile health and wellness services to older adults residing in rural Idaho. The Senior HealthMobile project had been implemented based on a framework of interprofessional practice, with faculty and students from varied health professions providing wellness care to rural older adults. Students had participated in the community-based experience to improve access to interdisciplinary wellness care and enhance existing services. Outcomes are shared as they relate to the experience of the students over the initial 6-year implementation of the project, with future perspectives and opportunities also presented.

Use and safety perceptions regarding herbal supplements: a study of older persons in southeast Idaho.

Herbal supplements (HS) are used by older persons and are often perceived as safe, although there is limited research that examines why this perception exists. A questionnaire was developed and pilot tested to investigate the use and perceived safety of HS among a convenience sample of 112 adults aged 60 to 92 in southeast Idaho. Fifty-five percent of the participants (n = 62) reported using HS in the past. Ninety-five percent (n = 59) of those using HS and 75% (n = 37) of nonusers reported they believed most or some HS were safe. Perception of herbal supplement safety was greatly influenced by family and friends, and HS users had a greater perception of safety than nonusers (p < or = .001). The top reasons for perceived safety given by HS users were that HS: (1) can be purchased without a prescription, (2) can be purchased in many locations, and (3) are natural.