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Violence Against Women

• Editor's Note
• List of Articles

List of Articles

• Domestic Violence: Screening And Intervention
  Domestic violence continues to be a prevalent problem in the United States. In order to prevent domestic violence and promote the well-being of their patients, healthcare professionals in all settings must take the initiative to properly assess all women for abuse during each visit and, for those women who are or may be victims, to offer education, counseling, and referral information. A tremendous barrier to diagnosing and treating domestic violence is a lack of knowledge and training. It is imperative that healthcare professionals work together to establish specific guidelines that will facilitate identification of batterers and their victims. During the assessment process, a practitioner must be open and sensitive to the client's/patient's worldview, cultural belief systems. The long-term focus on domestic violence is responsible for major reforms on multiple levels within various systemic functions related to criminal prosecution, legislative views and actions, and healthcare protocols. Encouraging health care providers to address overall preventive health care may also improve screening for this important public health issue.
  
  
• Domestic Violence During Pregnancy
  Intimate partner violence affects 1 out of 4 women in the US and has a tremendous effect on the health and well-being of female patients. The medical community is uniquely positioned to lessen this impact, at the very least by alleviating the isolation that is often integral to victimization. In accordance with expert guidelines, clinicians should screen all women for partner abuse and provide support and information about available resources for patient identified as victims of violence. Domestic violence is a multifaceted problem with high prevalence and substantial costs to society. Using these time-saving screening tools can facilitate discussion of abuse. However, it is important to note that a positive screen with any of the tools demands further evaluation. The military environment possesses a unique set of circumstances and stressors that may directly affect family violence. These include periods of family separation, tensions between the demands of duty and the demands of family life, stress related to the military mission, frequent relocation, perceived dangers associated with military training and combat, as well as financial stressors. Screening for a controlling or threatening partner among women with even mild postpartum depression may identify those who are at higher risk for long-term depression.
  
  
• Childhood Injuries and Violence: Improving Care and Global Efforts
  Injuries and violence are a significant cause of child death, physical and psychological disability. Increase attention to the field of injury control, the violence prevention and to stimulate research on what works to prevent and treat injuries, especially in low- and middle-income countries, as well as increased advocacy / partnership to confront child injury are of urgent need. Women's Health and Education Center (WHEC) hopes our efforts encourage countries and governments to implement injury control policies and programs that will actually lower the currently unacceptable toll of child injury. While much remains to be learned about the effectiveness of rehabilitation approaches, they signal the potential to actualize the full and meaningful participation of young people who experience disability following an injury. Progress in child and adolescent health will be limited if child injuries are not addressed systematically.
  
  
• Child Abuse - A Universal Challenge
  Child abuse is a serious global health problem. Most prevention efforts for child maltreatment focus on victims and perpetrators without necessarily addressing the root causes of the problem. The Convention on Rights of Child is one the most widely ratified of all the international treaties and conventions. A stronger commitment to increase global violence prevention efforts is desperately needed.
  
  
• Women, Peace & Security
  United Nations Publication
  
  
• Walk In Her Shoes
  gives an overview of dynamics and magnitude of Domestic Violence.
  
  
• Pathways To Change
  Refraining and Responding to Violence Against Women
  
  
• Division for the Advancement of Women
  UN-ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council of the United Nations) Publication
  
  
• United Nations: Commission on the Status of Women
  
  
• Understanding the Restraining Order (209A) Process
  A helpful flow chart illustrating the steps necessary to obtain a restraining order
  
  
• Massachusetts Resources: Domestic Violence
  
  
• Legal Primer On Massachusetts Family Violence Law
  A summary of Massachusetts Abuse Prevention Law and how it works.
  
  
• Profiling Domestic Violence
  Scientific investigation of the problem of domestic violence is a relatively recent endeavor. It is only within the past 30 years that violence against women has been acknowledged nationally and internationally as a threat to the health and rights of women as well as to national development. This chapter illuminates the different faces of violence, from the "invisible" suffering of society's most vulnerable individuals to the all-too-visible tragedy of societies.
  
  
• Elder Abuse
  Incorporating screening related to elder abuse and neglect into these encounters will increase identification of abuse. Health care providers should assess patients for elder abuse and respond to patients who are victims of elder abuse as they would to domestic violence in general.
  
  

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