title: Intimate partner violence and ways of coping with stress: cross-sectional survey of female patients in Russian general practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite World Health Organization guidelines on health service responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) against women general practitioners (GPs) often overlook the problem. Training on IPV addresses GPs' barriers to asking women patients about abuse and responding appropriately. One of the barriers is stereotype of women as passive victims. Little is known about coping behaviour of women patients with a history of IPV.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objectives are (i) to compare problem- and emotion-focused coping used by patients who have experienced IPV with those who have not; (ii) to examine whether greater coping resources (health, education, employment and income) would be associated with more problem-focused coping.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Russian Ways of Coping Questionnaire was administered to every fifth woman who participated in a cross-sectional survey on IPV prevalence in 24 St Petersburg general practices. Linear regression was used (n = 159) to test associations between life-time IPV, coping resources and ways of coping.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean problem-focused coping scores were 0.2-4.7 units higher in those patients who have experienced IPV compared with those who have not [95% confidence interval (CI): -4.2, 11.9; P = 0.16-0.92], while mean emotion-focused coping scores were 2.5-4.2 units higher (95% CI: -3.0, 11.0; P = 0.12-0.57). After adjustment for coping resources there was no evidence for an association between IPV and problem-focused coping.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients who have experienced IPV use as much problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, as those patients who have not experienced IPV. These findings should be incorporated into training on IPV to address GPs' stereotypes towards patients who have experienced IPV.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Academic Primary Care, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, Nat.Lokhmatkina@bristol.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Natalia V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Lokhmatkina
authors.affiliation: Centre for Academic Primary Care, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Roxane
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agnew-Davies
authors.affiliation: Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ceire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costelloe
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov, St Petersburg, Russian Federation and.
authors.forename: Olga Yu
authors.initials: OY
authors.lastname: Kuznetsova
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Medical Psychology, North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov, St Petersburg, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Irina M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Nikolskaya
authors.affiliation: Centre for Academic Primary Care, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Gene S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Feder
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004644:Emotions; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D012426:Russia; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Coping behaviour; domestic violence; general practice; intimate partner violence; partner abuse; women.