Department of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2011 Jul;20(7):1111-6. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2010.2536. Epub 2011 Jun 1.
Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to premenopausal women and fatal in over 1000 women annually, but few healthcare providers ask about it, citing numerous barriers, including language. This study tested the hypothesis that language does, in fact, pose a barrier to screening and that Spanish-speaking women report lower lifetime screening rates.
This study was part of an ongoing, multiclinic site, cervical cancer prevention trial in which patients completed a baseline survey, available in both Spanish and English, with the question: "Has a doctor or other healthcare provider ever asked you about domestic violence?" as well as other questions.
Of 2591 women, 1017 (39%) chose to complete the survey in Spanish and 1574 (61%) in English. Within the entire group, 1137 (44%) reported having been asked about domestic violence. Among those completing the Spanish survey, this rate was 47% (lifetime assessment), and among English-language respondents, it was surprisingly lower at 42% (p=0.011). In multivariate analyses, however, this language effect was reduced to nonsignificance. Instead, age (particularly the 28-34-year quartile), having been pregnant, clinic site, and type of medical visit (postpartum) were positively associated with lifetime assessment.
This study found a Spanish language preference is not a barrier to domestic violence assessment.
家庭暴力是导致绝经前女性受伤的主要原因，每年有超过 1000 名女性因此致命，但很少有医疗服务提供者询问，他们列举了许多障碍，包括语言。本研究检验了这样一个假设，即语言确实是筛查的障碍，而且讲西班牙语的女性报告的终生筛查率较低。
本研究是一项正在进行的多诊所宫颈癌预防试验的一部分，在该试验中，患者完成了基线调查，该调查有西班牙语和英语两种版本，问题是：“医生或其他医疗服务提供者是否曾询问过你有关家庭暴力的问题？”以及其他问题。
在 2591 名女性中，有 1017 名（39%）选择用西班牙语完成调查，1574 名（61%）用英语完成。在整个群体中，有 1137 名（44%）报告曾被询问过家庭暴力问题。在完成西班牙语调查的女性中，这一比例为 47%（终生评估），而在英语语言受访者中，这一比例令人惊讶地低至 42%（p=0.011）。然而，在多变量分析中，这种语言效应降低到无显著性。相反，年龄（特别是 28-34 岁四分位数）、怀孕、诊所地点和医疗访问类型（产后）与终生评估呈正相关。
本研究发现，对西班牙语的偏好并不是家庭暴力评估的障碍。
