NCJ Number
218933
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: May 2007 Pages: 231-235
Date Published
May 2007
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A total of 148 women who came to a rural community health care center completed survey packets that measured exposure to partner abuse, impairment associated with exposure to partner abuse, physical and mental health problems, health behaviors, and the extent of health care use.
Abstract
The study found that being subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse by an intimate partner was significantly related to poorer mental and physical health as well as unhealthy behaviors. Fifty-four percent of the women reported experiencing psychological abuse; approximately 33 percent reported experiencing physical abuse; and approximately 32 percent reported sexual abuse. Approximately 8 percent of the sample scored at or above the severity of abuse found in a sample of women living in a domestic violence shelter. This indicates that partner abuse, although occurring often among rural women, does not reach the level of severity experienced by women who use the services of domestic violence shelters. These findings support previous research that indicates partner abuse negatively affects psychological and physical functioning. Another important finding was that women's perception of being psychologically impaired due to partner abuse was significantly related to mental and physical health as well as healthy behaviors. The 148 women (mean age of 38 years) were recruited from the nonpregnant, female patients 18 years old or older who came to any of 5 outpatient clinics at a rural midwestern osteopathic college of medicine during the winter of 2003. Various questionnaire instruments solicited information on health-care behaviors, health habits, mental and physical health, and self-reports of exposure to partner abuse and perceptions of psychological impairment associated with such abuse. 1 table and 27 references