4110.2: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - Board 1

Abstract #9622

Building bridges: Community health centers join to create an enhanced response to domestic violence in the Vietnamese community

Jane Oldfield, LICSW, Domestic Violence Specialist, Community Advocacy Program of the Center for Community Health Education, Research and Service, 716 Columbus Avenue, Suite 398, Boston, MA 02120, 617-636-9221, s.chandler@nunet.neu.edu and Quynh Dang, Program Director, Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, Boston, MA 02112-0108.

In this paper, the authors will describe the Community Advocacy Program, a community health center-based domestic violence collaboration. The presenters will then discuss how programming and services targeted toward Vietnamese women were developed through an inter-agency collaboration in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Domestic violence Advocates at these health centers run an interdisciplinary Domestic Violence Task Force (DVTF). The DVTFs at three health centers identified Vietnamese women as being underidentified and therefore underserved as victims of domestic violence. The Community Advocacy Program, convening the collaborative, joined with the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence to developed improved outreach and services for Vietnamese women. Activities to support this enhancement included providing training for medical interpreters regarding domestic violence; providing training for health care providers and staff regarding working cross culturally through the use of a medical interpreter; conducting group interviews with Vietnamese women about health care providers screening for domestic violence in routine health care visits; and conducting educational presentations to Vietnamese women regarding domestic violence and services available at the health center. The authors will present preliminary findings from the group interviews and resulting programmatic developments. The authors will also discuss successes, barriers, and strategies in our collaboration to enhance domestic violence services for Vietnamese women.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the Community Advocacy Program, a community health center-based domestic violence collaboration.
  2. Identify critical steps and methods necessary to enhance services for cultural and linguistic minorities, using the Community Advocacy Program's collaboration with the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence as a case study.
  3. Demonstrate quality improvement strategies utilized to evaluate the community health center response to serving Vietnamese domestic violence victims.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Asian Women

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Center for Community Health Education, Research and Service (CCHERS)and Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Sub-contract

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA