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Screening women for domestic violence
Submit responseThe article by Nelson et al (1) concludes that intervention studies fail to show any benefit for women suffering domestic violence. They have only considered interventions based in health care and have ignored an extensive literature from psychologists, sociologists and criminologists. There are well conducted controlled trials which show some benefit. (2) (3) Women suffering domestic violence do not only present to physicians but are likely to involve the police and voluntary agencies. Considering interventions based only in healthcare alone is artificial, since this is unlikely to represent the experience of the victim. (4) Though including these studies would probably not have changed the overall conclusions of this review, it is important that researchers in this field consider the wider sources of information before making recommendations.
(1) Nelson HD, Nygren P, McInerney Y, Klein J. Screening Women and Elderly Adults for Family and Intimate Partner Violence: A Review of the Evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Annals of Internal Medicine 2004; 140(5):387-396.
(2) Sullivan CM, Bybee D, I. Reducing violence using community-based advocacy for women with abusive partners. J Consult Clin Psychol 1999; 67(1):43-53.
(3) Sherman L, Berk RA. The specific deterrent effects of arrest for domestic assault. American Sociological Review 1984; 49(2):262-272.
(4) Mirrlees-Black C. Domestic violence: findings from a new British crime survey self completion questionnaire. 1-136. 1999. Home Office Publications.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared