NCJ Number
130044
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1990) Pages: 243-256
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Observational data was collected in the emergency departments at 4 out of 34 hospitals in a large city to identify key elements in successful intervention with battered women. The data focused on the behavioral characteristics of the victims and staff responses to these characteristics.
Abstract
The hospitals varied in function and population served; the emergency department staff in each received an educational session on interventions for battered women prior to the beginning of the study. In most of the cases, 61 percent, the battered women appeared like the majority of nonbattered women in that they stated their complaint and cooperated with staff in their treatment. However, the remainder of the victims displayed what hospital staff felt were discrediting attributes including intoxication, inappropriate behaviors, or reluctance in providing information about the circumstances of their injuries. According to the data, hospital staff made positive responses in 10 percent of the cases, partial responses in 47 percent, and no response in 43 percent; responses were characterized in terms of the type and number of interventions offered. Staff failure to respond was due either to the victim's discrediting attributes or their own attitude that battering in itself was not a medical concern. The results indicate that the staff were most responsive at the one hospital which had established an intervention system for battered women. The study shows that interventions must be designed in accordance with the way in which medical professionals perceive their medical role and the way in which they approach patients with discrediting traits. 2 tables, 2 notes, and 62 references (Author abstract modified)