PREVENTION OF FAMILY VIOLENCE: THE ROLE OF MEDICINE

• NCJ Number: 147210
• Author(s): D A Rosenberg
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the National Conference on Family Violence: Health and Justice, Washington, DC, March 11-13, 1994

Annotation

This paper addresses the role that individual doctors and organized medicine could have in the prevention of family violence.

Abstract

Physicians are required by civil law to report child abuse or neglect. Since the early 1970's, medicine has also taken a stronger interest in the issue of violence toward women in their homes. The role of physicians and organized medicine, involved in many different family violence prevention strategies, is examined in the public health format of tertiary, secondary, and primary prevention. However, significant barriers exist between physicians and the justice system or social services which diminish the efforts in the realm of family violence prevention. Some of these barriers include inadequate education on family violence in medical schools, lack of information exchange and cooperation between doctors and social service agencies, and conflicts between legal and ethical obligations. Over the past 10 years, many doctors have become involved in efforts to solve these problems. 87 references