Recorded presentation

Lynne Stevens, MSW, BCD¹, Jean Mouch, MD, MPH², Johanna Bridges, MSC, CDVC³, Deborah Bokas, MSW, LCSW³, and Margaret Carr Cofsky, BS, MA³. (1) Responding to Violence Against Women Program, 159 West 95 Street, New York, NY 10025, 212-222-9563, lynnes@earthlink.net, (2) Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, 1600 Haddon Ave., Camden City, NJ 08103, (3) Osborn Family Health Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, 1601 Haddon Ave., Camden City, NJ 08103

Studies show that approximately one third of all women have experienced some form of interpersonal violence. While specialized services such as rape crisis centers, shelters and clinics exist in many communities, a number of internal and external barriers stop survivors of violence from using these services. In order to reach and assist victims of past or present day violence, other entry points must be utilized. The behavior of survivors provides the answer to this challenge. Since victims of violence rate their own health status as poorer than other women, they use health care services more often than do women who have not been abused. In addition, survivors say not only would they like to be asked about the violence in their lives but also that health care providers are the people they would most like to tell. Although all women are vulnerable to abuse, research shows that poor women are at a higher risk for violence. An outpatient primary health care facility in Camden County, New Jersey, the second poorest city in the U.S., is the site of a pilot project that integrates screening for past and present day violence into their health care services. This presentation will focus on: the development and implementation of this project with an emphasis on the building of the program components, application of the input from consumers and staff and the creation of community interrelationships.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize why women who are victims of violence access health care services more often than women who are not abused 2. Develop an understanding of the importance of screening women for past or present day violence at health care facilities. 3. Identify the key components necessary to develop such a violence against women program in a health care setting.

Keywords: Women's Health, Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation