Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Partner violence prevalence among women attending a Maori health provider clinic
Other Titles:	Australian and New Zealand journal of public health
Authors:	Giddings, Lynne Gardiner, Julie Fyfe, Elaine Koziol-Mclain, Jane Rameka, Maria
Keywords:	Early intervention;Health;Indigenous issues;Screening
Year:	2007
Publisher:	Public Health Association of Australia
Citation:	31 (2), April 2007
Notes:	General Overview: This article reports on a New Zealand study examining partner violence prevalence among women attending a Maori health provider clinic. The study examined the current circumstances of women and the prevalence of partner that they experience over their lifetime. Objective: The authors sought to document the prevalence of partner violence among Maori women seeking healthcare, in order to inform the healthcare response to family violence in the Maori community. Method: All women attending the clinic over 30 randomly selected mornings were eligible to take part in the study. There were 109 women who consented to participate. Consenting participants were questioned verbally by Research Assistants using a questionnaire, including brief questions such as whether women had been hit, slapped kicked or otherwise physically hurt by someone in the past year and over their lifetime. All women were offered a brochure about family violence and the telephone numbers of specialist assistance. Women who screened positive were given support and assessed for high risk. A safety plan was then discussed, including referral options. Results: Of those surveyed, 23% or 25 women screened positive for partner violence. Of these, 6 women (24%) reported one or more high danger risk factors. Four women reported their partner threatened to kill them or someone in the family in the past three months, two women reported that they were considering self harm and almost all reported that there were one or more children living in the house. Discussion: There was a higher prevalence of partner violence in this study than reported in hospital emergency departments. 78% of women had experienced partner violence sometime in their life but only 23% did so in the last year. There was evidence that women do make the transition of separating from their violent partner, which is worrying because post separation is a period of particularly high risk. Evidence suggests that abused women will suffer chronic pain and depression. The authors acknowledge certain limitations to the study, including the fact that the sample was small, was only conducted in one hauora (health clinic) and they did not collect individual or macro-level correlates which meant that the results could not be generalised. Conclusion:Healthcare settings are an important site for identifying intimate partner violence, where the incidence is higher than either emergency departments or population-based studies. Most women in the study were prepared to answer sensitive questions about partner violence. The authors conclude that it is imperative to move beyond identifying women who have experienced family violence to develop a coordinated community response to challenge structures and attitudes that sustain family violence. They argue that doing nothing is to condone violence and allow perpetrators to continue to wield power and that health professional’s reluctance to screen is an action in itself.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/16086
ISSN:	1326-0200
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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