Bridging prevention and practice: public health and family violence
Rosenberg, M.L.; Fenley, M.A.; Johnson, D.; Short, L.
Academic Medicine Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 72(1 Suppl): S13-S18
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 1040-2446 PMID: 9008583 Document Number: 282578
A public health approach to the primary prevention of family violence entails surveillance, the identification of risk factors, and the development, evaluation, and dissemination of effective interventions. The US Centers for Disease Control is developing definitions and criteria for family violence, collecting data on the prevalence of partner violence, identifying salient risk factors, and determining which interventions are effective. Once the scientific process has determined effective interventions, the public health community utilizes established systems of information dissemination to deliver this information to practitioners in the community. The integration of efforts by health care, public health, law enforcement, education and public information, and social services is essential. Although physicians are often the first and only point of contact for battered women, they receive little or no education on how to identify, manage, and refer affected women. Education and training for physicians should begin in medical school, with emphasis on the cycle of violence across the life span, development of safety plans, legal options and reporting requirements, and referral methods. Different formats should be used to ensure that all medical students have ample opportunity to practice history taking. Training in family violence prevention is especially important for health care staff in emergency departments, maternal and child health, substance abuse and mental health, migrant and rural health, gerontology, the Indian Health Service, and health services for the homeless.