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May 8th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) — Routine screening of women for
domestic violence could reduce cases of abuse and injuries, a new analysis
indicates.
The review of recent studies, which was commissioned by the U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), also found that general
screening for domestic violence did not appear to harm women.
The task force will use the review to decide whether to update its 2004
guidelines, which state that there is not enough evidence about the
benefits and harms of domestic violence screening to recommend it to
doctors.
The task force will probably make a final decision on new guidelines
within a few weeks of the current review, which was published online May 7
in Annals of Internal Medicine, said review author Dr. Heidi
Nelson, a clinical epidemiologist at the Oregon Evidence-based Practice
Center in Portland.
“It’s definitely a stronger set of studies than we looked at before,”
said Nelson, who was involved in the review that informed the 2004
guidelines.
The current review evaluated all the studies that have looked at the
effects of domestic violence screening in clinics, the treatments that
screening led to, and the effectiveness of screening methods that had been
published since the review for the 2004 guidelines.
“The task force recommendations are not mandates, but often a strong
recommendation by the task force leads to a standard of care and insurance
coverage,” Nelson said.
Several organizations for medical professionals, including the
Institute of Medicine (IOM), already support the routine screening of
patients for domestic violence.
“The USPSTF recommendations tend to be more rigorous, and more
user-friendly [and] accessible, so I think they are more used than IOM’s,”
said Dr. Adam Zolotor, a family physician in the University of North
Carolina School of Medicine.
Zolotor has concerns about the idea of general screening.
“The issue is you have got a busy family practice, and doctors screen
these women and women get emotional and then you don’t have anything to
offer them,” he said. There could also be a big risk that a woman’s abuse
gets worse because her boyfriend or husband finds resources that the
doctor gave her, such as numbers to call for support, and beats her,
Zolotor explained.
However, “there is a really important new piece of evidence that
screening works that is one of the most important questions for moving the
needle on screening,” Zolotor noted.
This evidence comes from six studies included in the review that
evaluated the effect of interventions to help women who screen positive
for domestic violence.
One study in particular screened more than 1,000 pregnant black women
in the D.C. area during their prenatal care visits. It gave half of the
women experiencing abuse counseling sessions before and after they gave
birth.
The study found that women who received therapy had less domestic
violence during and after pregnancy and also gave birth to healthier
babies.
“I think the ultimate recommendation from the task force ought to be
something like we should screen and/but we need to develop adequate
resources to refer women to for interventions,” Zolotor said.
The studies of interventions in the review offered structured help,
such as sessions with a therapist or home visits, but not all areas have
these resources. “In my area, I might be able to give you a telephone
number to call for help when you are having problems,” Zolotor said.
However, every state has a domestic violence coalition and programs
with domestic violence advocates who can help women with a number of
issues, such as planning safe ways to get out of an abusive situation,
getting child care and finding a job, said Fern Gilkerson, a health
education specialist with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic
Violence in Harrisburg.
“I absolutely think that universal screening could be helpful; there’s
no harm at all in asking,” Gilkerson said.
Even if there are not a lot of resources in place, “screening itself is
an intervention,” Gilkerson said. “Screening lets them know that there’s
help when they’re ready to get it. Someone may need to be asked seven or
eight times.”
Many of the studies in the review screened women who were either
pregnant or new moms because they are accessing health care, Nelson said,
“but women who come in for a routine physical or pelvic exam might float
under the radar.”
Zolotor said that certain times might be the most appropriate to
screen, such as when a doctor or clinic sees a patient for the first time
or when a patient becomes pregnant.
As of August 2012, the Affordable Care Act is requiring that insurance
covers domestic violence screening every year, as well as counseling, as
part of preventive health services.
Between 1.3 million and 5.3 million women in the United States
experience domestic violence each year, and between 22 percent and 39
percent of women experience abuse at some point in their lives, according
to the review.
More information
To learn more about domestic violence, visit Helpguide.org.
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