Título: Detecting and referring battered women : an emergency department case study
Autores: Iorio, Cristina.
Fecha: 1998
Publicador: McGill University - MCGILL
Fuente:
Tipo: Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Tema: Abused women -- Medical care.
Hospitals -- Emergency services.
Medical social work.
Descripción: Battery is a major health care issue that, despite increased recognition, fails to be detected in health care institutions. Without adequate detection, referral to social and community services are less likely to occur, rendering women victims vulnerable to continued risk physically, psychologically and medically. This study seeks to describe actual detection and referral practices in an emergency department at a large teaching hospital in Quebec, as well as explore health care professionals' knowledge about and practices regarding the detection and referral of battered women. Its aim is to better understand the pathways and barriers to detection and referral of abused women in order to enhance current practice responses in emergency departments. To examine detection and referral rates and predictors of battery, 200 medical charts from the emergency department were reviewed. Supplementing analyses of the charts were in depth interviews with ten health care professionals working in the emergency department. From these sources of data, it became apparent that neither detection nor referral occur in any systematic fashion. Whereas health care professionals seem to know a great deal about battery, their actual practice appears to be contradictory. Gynecological problems and woman's age were not found to be related to detail in charts but physical injuries were. Whereas a positive relationship was found between detection and referral in the chart reviews, everyday practice showed inadequacy in both areas. Implications for social work contributions to health care practice related to battery are offered.
Idioma: en