title: Identifying pregnant women experiencing domestic violence in an urban emergency department.
abstract: The article describes characteristics of pregnant women presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) who are experiencing current violence and presented a screening tool to identify pregnant women experiencing violence. Women completed an in-person interview regarding violence, sociodemo-graphic factors, health status, and drug use. Fifteen percent of women reported at least one episode of violence during the pregnancy. Young age (OR = 3.37, 95% CI: 1.79-6.36), current alcohol use (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.06-2.19), current marijuana use (OR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.32-2.92), less than a high school education (OR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.01-2.12), and a prior diagnosis of trichomonas (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.20-2.72) were significantly related to experiencing current violence. Screening patients using these five characteristics identified 8 out of 10 women reporting violence (sensitivity = 75.6%). These results identify a set of predictors that may be helpful in identifying pregnant women who are experiencing current domestic violence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Datner
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wiebe
authors.forename: Colleen M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Brensinger
authors.forename: Deborah B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017579:Domestic Violence; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population