Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Jan 2015
Coordinated public health initiatives to address violence against women and adolescents.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a well-recognized public health problem. IPV affects women's physical and mental health through direct pathways, such as injury, and indirect pathways, such as a prolonged stress response that leads to chronic health problems. The influence of abuse can persist long after the violence has stopped and women of color are disproportionately impacted. ⋯ Health care partnerships with domestic violence experts are critical in order to provide training, develop referral protocols, and to link IPV victims to advocacy services. Survivors need a comprehensive response that addresses their safety concerns and may require advocacy around housing or shelter, legal assistance, and safety planning. Gaps in research knowledge identified are health system readiness to respond to IPV victims in health care settings and partner with domestic violence programs, effects of early IPV intervention, and models for taking interventions to scale.
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Journal of women's health · Jan 2015
Screening and counseling for Intimate Partner Violence: a vision for the future.
We describe a vision of screening and intervention for Intimate Partner Violence informed by deliberations during the December 2013 Intimate Partner Violence Screening and Counseling Research Symposium and the resultant manuscripts featured in this special issue of the Journal of Women's Health. Our vision includes universal screening and intervention, when indicated, which occurs routinely as part of comprehensive physical and behavioral health services that are both patient centered and trauma informed. Areas for future research needed to realize this vision are discussed.
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Journal of women's health · Dec 2014
Risk factors for maternal injuries in a population-based sample of pregnant women.
The prevalence of injuries during pregnancy is largely underestimated, as previous research has focused on more severe injuries resulting in emergency department visits and hospitalizations. The objective of our study was to estimate the frequency, risk factors, and causes of injuries in a population-based sample of pregnant women. ⋯ Pregnant women with risk factors for many pregnancy-related complications are also at increased risk of injury during pregnancy. Further studies of pregnancy-related injuries are needed to consider environmental and maternal characteristics on risk of injury.
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Journal of women's health · Dec 2014
Enhancing uterine fibroid research through utilization of biorepositories linked to electronic medical record data.
Uterine leiomyomata (fibroids) affect up to 77% of women by menopause and account for $9.4 billion in yearly healthcare costs. Most studies rely on self-reported diagnosis, which may result in misclassification of controls since as many as 50% of cases are asymptomatic and thus undiagnosed. Our objective was to evaluate the performance and accuracy of a fibroid phenotyping algorithm constructed from electronic medical record (EMR) data, limiting to subjects with pelvic imaging. ⋯ These data suggest that using biorepositories linked to EMR data is a feasible way to identify populations of imaged women that facilitate investigations of fibroid risk factors.