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

Abstract #117047

Michelle Zeitler, MPH candidate, Heilbrunn Dept. of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 60 Haven Ave. B-2, New York, NY 10032, 212-342-0450, msz2102@columbia.edu, Leslie L. Davidson, MD, MSc, Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, Room 1612, New York, NY 10032, Vaughn I. Rickert, PsyD, Center for Community Health and Education, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 60 Haven Ave, B-3, New York, NY 10032, Carolyn Olson, MPH, Epidemiology Services, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 125 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013, Vicki Breitbart, EdD, MSW, Planned Parenthood of New York City, Inc (PPNYC), Margaret Sanger Square, 26 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, Leslie Rottenberg, MSW, Executive Office, Planned Parenthood New York City, Margaret Sanger Square, 26 Bleecker St., New York, NY 10012, Lynne Stevens, CSW, BCD, Independent Consultant, 159 W. 95 St., New York, NY 10025, and Roger Vaughan, DrPH, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 60 Haven Ave, B-3, New York, NY 10032.

Because few currently available Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) screening instruments address the specific needs of younger women, Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) and the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health (HDPFH) at Columbia University have collaborated to explore different ways of asking young women about violence in their relationships. Focus group data informed the development of a survey for 638 ethnically diverse women between 15-24 years of age at Planned Parenthood to explore the need for new approaches to screening in this population. For example, we compared responses to questions in which the word “have you ever been sexually abused” was used to those asking about specific behaviors, including “forced sex” or “rape.” Far fewer women identified themselves as sexually abused; 56 women (9%) said they had ever been sexually abused, while 184 women (29%) said they had been raped or forced into sex. Further, when comparing questions that comprise the Abuse Assessment Scale (AAS), the research team discovered that had the AAS been used alone it would have missed identifying 45 women who had been previously raped in their lifetime would have been missed. Other examples of different approaches to screening will be discussed in the session. These data and the results of the focus groups with women and providers have being used to develop several approaches to screening young women which will be randomly evaluated in the coming year.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, participants should be able

• To identify the problems with various existing screening tools in accurately capturing positive cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences among a sample of urban young women aged 15-24 seeking reproductive health care.
• To describe three alternate approaches to asking young women about intimate partner violence experiences, incorporating components both from existing tools and women’s views.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Women's Health

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.

Recorded presentation