Differences in physical and mental health symptoms and mental health utilization associated with intimate-partner violence versus childhood abuse.

BACKGROUND: There is ample evidence that both intimate-partner violence (IPV) and childhood abuse adversely affect the physical and mental health of adult women over the long term. OBJECTIVE: The authors assessed the associations between abuse, symptoms, and mental health utilization. METHOD: The authors performed a cross-sectional survey of 380 adult female, internal-medicine patients. RESULTS: Although both IPV and childhood abuse were associated with depressive and physical symptoms, IPV was independently associated with physical symptoms, and childhood abuse was independently associated with depression. Women with a history of childhood abuse had higher odds, whereas women with IPV had lower odds, of receiving care from mental health providers. CONCLUSION: IPV and childhood abuse may have different effects on women's symptoms and mental health utilization.

"You always end up feeling like you're some hypochondriac": intimate partner violence survivors' experiences addressing depression and pain.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known regarding how providers should use information about intimate partner violence (IPV) to care for depressed patients. Our objective was to explore what depressed IPV survivors believe about the relationship between abuse, mental health, and physical symptoms and to elicit their recommendations for addressing depression. DESIGN: Focus group study. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: Adult, English-speaking, female, Internal Medicine clinic patients with depressive symptoms and a history of IPV. INTERVENTIONS: Thematic analysis using an inductive approach (consistent with grounded theory), at a semantic level, with an essentialist paradigm. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Twenty three women participated in 5 focus groups. Although selected because of their depression, participants often felt their greatest concerns were physical. They acknowledged that their abuse history, depression, and physical complaints compound each other. They appreciated the need for health care workers to know about their depression and IPV history to get a "full picture" of their health, but they were often hesitant to discuss such issues with providers because of their fear that such information would make providers think their symptoms were "all in their head" or would encourage providers to discount their pain. Participants discussed difficulties related to trust and control in relationships with providers and gave recommendations as to how providers can earn their trust. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding a patient's IPV history may allow providers to develop a better therapeutic relationship. To treat depression adequately, it is important for providers to reassure patients that they believe their physical symptoms; to communicate respect for patients' intelligence, experience, and complexity; and to share control.

Measuring the impact of the Voices of Survivors program on health care workers' attitudes toward survivors of intimate partner violence.

BACKGROUND: Most continuing medical education programs on intimate partner violence (IPV) use an expert-driven approach and focus on changing knowledge and screening behaviors. The Voices of Survivors program aims to also improve attitudes and empathy. OBJECTIVES: To test the Attitudes Toward Survivors of IPV (ATSI) survey psychometrically. To assess the effectiveness of the Voices of Survivors program in changing health care workers' responsibility to assess for and counsel about IPV, respect for patient autonomy, empathy toward patients in abusive relationships, barriers, confidence, knowledge, and self-reported assessment behaviors. SETTING: Thirty-one unaffiliated primary care practices in Washington County, Ore. DESIGN: Comparison of ATSI survey results before and after a two-hour workshop including a 30-minute video and an advocate-led discussion. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of primary care providers, medical support staff, and other clinic employees. RESULTS: Two hundred and eighty-four health care workers participated in the training. Two hundred and sixty-seven (94%) completed workshop evaluations and 187 (66%) completed both pre- and postintervention surveys. Cronbach's alpha for all scales ranged from 0.68 to 0.92. Postintervention, participants' summary scores improved for responsibility to assess for IPV (3.96 vs 3.64; P<.0001), respect for patient autonomy (2.78 vs 2.41; P<.0001), empathy (3.24 vs. 2.99; P=.002), confidence (2.33 vs 2.07; P<.0001), knowledge (2.08 vs 1.64; P<.0001), and self-reported behaviors (3.08 vs 2.53; P=.0001). Barriers related to availability of resources and referrals also improved. CONCLUSIONS: The ATSI scales demonstrated good internal reliability and responsiveness to change in all domains except responsibility to counsel. The Voices of Survivors documentary, along with a workshop based on its companion guide, improved clinic employees' knowledge, attitudes, empathy, and self-reported assessment behaviors about IPV.

Health care workers' expectations and empathy toward patients in abusive relationships.

PURPOSE: To understand attitudes that may affect health care workers' ability to provide appropriate long-term care for patients who stay with abusive partners. METHODS: We surveyed 278 health care workers in 31 primary care practices before their participation in an educational intervention. RESULTS: More than half of participants (51% to 60%) found it easy to empathize with a patient who decided to remain in an abusive relationship if the patient was described as poor or disabled, but few (25% to 39%) could empathize if the patient was described as educated or financially secure. A majority (57% to 59%) agreed with a statement meant to assess unrealistic expectations. ("A provider's responsibility includes making sure a patient gets to a shelter right away if he or she discloses abuse.") Participants who agreed with this statement had more difficulty empathizing with patients who decided to stay with an abusive partner (P = .0045). CONCLUSIONS: Training efforts must focus on screening and on helping providers develop more realistic expectations about the complex nature of leaving an abusive relationship. Health care workers need a better understanding of the barriers patients face and why patients may choose to remain in abusive relationships, even in the absence of economic or health limitations.

Violence, mental health, and physical symptoms in an academic internal medicine practice.

OBJECTIVE: To assess how physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV), child abuse, and community violence relate to long-term mental and physical problems; to examine the overlap between different forms of violence and the impact of experiencing multiple forms of violence. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Three general internal medicine practices affiliated with an academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: English-speaking women aged 25 to 60. MEASUREMENTS: Telephone or in-person interview and chart review. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-four women completed interviews. A majority of participants experienced more than one form of violence. In separate multivariate analyses, each form of violence was associated with depressive symptoms or with at least 6 chronic physical symptoms, after adjustment for demographic factors and substance abuse. The degree of association with health outcomes was similar for each form of violence (odds ratio [OR], 2.4 to 3.9; P < .003). The association with chronic physical symptoms remained significant for IPV (OR, 3.3; P < .002) and community violence (OR, 3.4; P < .003), even after adjustment for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. There were dose-response relationships between the number of forms of violence experienced and the odds of depressive symptoms and the odds of multiple chronic physical symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple types of victimizations may contribute to patients' current mental health and physical problems. Research or clinical protocols that only focus on one form of violence may underestimate the complexity of women's experiences and needs.