title: [Violence against women in mental health departments: Is it relevant for mental health professionals?].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Violence against women (VaW) directly influences their quality of life and mental health. Unfortunately, its influence may be ignored or underestimated by professionals attending these women.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe a hospitalized sample of women suffering from emergent VaW who visited the mental health department for other reasons. To evaluate the degree of knowledge about VaW and interventions for VaW taken by health professionals.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed an observational, prospective study with systematic data collection on all cases of emergent and/or urgent VaW at the Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí (Sabadell, Spain) from January-December 2004 and January-December 2006. The reference population consisted of 390,000 inhabitants, mostly urban and from the industrial and service economic sectors. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the two study periods, 218 and 194 women, respectively, were attended for emergent and/or urgent VaW resulting in severe injures and/or medical and/or social assistance. Of these, up to 53 received or had received specialized mental health treatment. Most of these women (69.7%) withdrew from follow-up. We detected a high rate of comorbid abuse or dependence on alcohol (27.3%), benzodiazepines (33.3%) or other drugs of abuse and a high rate of suicide attempts (41.9%) and successful suicides in these periods. VaW was explicitly registered in only 51.1% of the cases and a specific intervention for VaW was documented in only 15.2% of the cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of psychiatric and/or psychological disorders was very high in our sample, but the presence of VaW was not always specifically documented or treated.
authors: Servei de Salut Mental, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Sabadell, Barcelona, España; Grup de Treball i Recerca en Salut Mental i Dona, Societat Catalana de Psiquiatria i Salut Mental, Acadèmia de Ciències Mèdiques i de la Salut de Catalunya i de Balears, Barcelona, España.
authors: Jesús
authors: J
authors: Cobo
authors: Ruth
authors: R
authors: Muñoz
authors: Ascensión
authors: A
authors: Martos
authors: Montserrat
authors: M
authors: Carmona
authors: Mireia
authors: M
authors: Pérez
authors: Roser
authors: R
authors: Cirici
authors: Gemma
authors: G
authors: García-Parés