Partner violence and medical encounters: African-American women's perspectives.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and patient satisfaction with medical encounters among an African-American population.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, self-administered, anonymous survey.


METHODS
Community-based, primary care center.


METHODS
Consecutive African-American women recruited from an urban health center. A total of 102 women provided sufficient information to reveal whether they were currently experiencing IPV and to allow us to assess their experiences in their most recent primary care encounter.


METHODS
Patients' perceptions of their most recent encounter using questions adopted from the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale and Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire. We used the Conflicts Tactics Scale, supplemented with questions measuring sexual violence and emotional abuse, to assess IPV "in the past year."


RESULTS
Women who reported current IPV rated several aspects of the encounter more negatively than did women who did not report current abuse. The IPV victims were less likely to report that they felt respected and accepted during the encounter, and they provided lower ratings of the quality of communication with their providers.


CONCLUSIONS
It is unclear why victims of partner violence experience medical encounters as less satisfactory. Researchers need to expand studies of medical encounters as experienced by abused women to determine whether IPV status adversely affects general medical care.
McNutt
L A
LA
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University at Albany, Rensselaer, New York 12144, USA.
van Ryn
M
M
Clark
C
C
Fraiser
I
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009511:New England; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014505:Urban Population