Rural health-care providers' attitudes, practices, and training experience regarding intimate partner violence--West Virginia, March 1997.

Primary health-care providers are an important resource to women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV patients in rural areas often face obstacles to preventive services such as physical isolation from health care and a lack of adequate community services. In March 1997, a pilot project was conducted to survey the attitudes and practices of rural health-care providers (RHCPs) toward women at risk for IPV in primary-care clinics in West Virginia and to determine the training experience of RHCPs in IPV intervention and prevention during the preceding 2 years. This report summarizes the results of the survey, which indicate that most RHCPs recognized barriers to identification and referral of abused women in their practices but few screened female patients for IPV or have had recent continuing education on IPV.