Characteristics Associated With Being Asked About Violence Victimization in Health Care: A Swedish Random Population Study
2022 (English)In: Journal of Interpersonal Violence, ISSN 0886-2605, E-ISSN 1552-6518, Vol. 37, no 11-12, p. NP8479-NP8506Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Sustainable development
SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Abstract [en]
Recommendations to routinely question patients about violence victimization have been around for many years; nonetheless, many patients suffering in the aftermath of violence go unnoticed in health care. The main aim of this study was to explore characteristics associated with being asked about experiences of violence in health care and thereby making visible victims that go unnoticed. In this study, we used cross-sectional survey data from 754 men (response rate 35%) and 749 women (response rate 38%) collected at random from the Swedish population, age 25–85. Questions were asked about experiences of emotional, physical, and sexual violence from both family, partner, and other perpetrators. Only 13.1% of those reporting some form of victimization reported ever being asked about experiences of violence in health care. Low subjective social status was associated with being asked questions (adj OR 2.23) but not with victimization, possibly indicating prejudice believes among providers concerning who can be a victim of violence. Other factors associated with increased odds of being asked questions were: being a woman (adj OR 2.09), young age (24–44 years, adj OR 6.90), having been treated for depression (adj OR 2.45) or depression and anxiety (adj OR 2.19) as well as reporting physical violence (adj OR 2.74) or polyvictimization (adj OR 2.85). The main finding of the study was that only few victims had been asked questions. For example, among those reporting ≥4 visits to a primary care physician during the past 12 months, 43% reported some form of victimization but only 6% had been asked questions. Our findings underline the importance of continuing to improve the health care response offered to victims of violence.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2022. Vol. 37, no 11-12, p. NP8479-NP8506
Keywords [en]
disclosure of domestic violence, domestic violence, revictimization, sexual assault, violence exposure, adult, anxiety, article, controlled study, exposure to violence, female, general practitioner, human, major clinical study, male, offender, physical violence, population research, prejudice, social status, Swedish citizen, victim
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Research subject
Health and Caring Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-102369DOI: 10.1177/0886260520977836ISI: 000677301600001PubMedID: 33283603Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85097284520Local ID: 2020OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-102369DiVA, id: diva2:1546048
2021-04-212021-04-212025-08-26Bibliographically approved