Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111418

Michael Yonas, DrPH, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, 323-A Rosenau Hall, CB 7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-966-9557, myonas@email.unc.edu, Jessica Burke, PhD, Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, E4010, Baltimore, MD 21205, Patricia O'Campo, PhD, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1W8, Canada, Andrea Gielen, ScD, The Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Hampton House, Fifth floor, 624 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Karen A. McDonnell, PhD, Maternal and Child Health, George Washington University School of Public Health, 2175 K Street Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037.

A growing wealth of literature suggests that community context is significantly associated with experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV). This paper describes the association between psychological sense of community (PSOC) and women's experiences of IPV. Data come from the Community Pathways to Reducing Interpersonal Violence Project, a study of violence and women's health conducted in Baltimore City. Face to face surveys were conducted with 181 women recruited from six clinic and community service sites. PSOC was measured using a participant's mean response to an established 12 item scale consisting of items such as “I think my neighborhood is a good place for me to live” and “People in my neighborhood share the same values”. IPV was assessed using the Revised Conflicts Tactics Scale. Participants were low income, of reproductive age, African-American, and had at least a HS education. 20% of the women reported experiencing any type of IPV in the year prior to the survey. 18% reported psychological abuse, 14% reported physical abuse, 8% reported sexual abuse. Logistic regression was used to measure the association between the PSOC and IPV experiences while adjusting for women's age, education and income level. Women with increased PSOC scores were less likely to have experienced IPV during the year prior to the conduct of the survey. Further analyses, including results examining various types of abuse experiences (e.g. psychological aggression, physical assault and sexual coercion) will be presented. Results from these analyses will contribute to our understanding of the relationship between community context and IPV.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the intimate partner violence experiences of a sample of low income urban women.
• Define psychological sense of community and describe its' measurement in a sample of low income urban women.
• Discuss the relationship between psychological sense of community and intimate partner violence experiences among a sample of low income urban women.

Keywords: Community, Domestic Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.