WASHINGTON _A study issued last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which finds that American Indian and Alaska Native women experience the highest rates of domestic violence, also highlights the need for health care providers to routinely screen their female patients for domestic and sexual violence.

The CDC’s survey, conducted in 2005 and released last week, finds that two in five Native women (39 percent) have been victims of intimate partner violence, compared with one in four women overall. It also identifies a correlation between domestic violence and chronic diseases and conditions, as well as risky health behaviors like smoking and binge drinking.

 

“This study once again underscores the important role health care providers can play by routinely screening patients and intervening to help those at risk,” said Family Violence Prevention FundPresident Esta Soler.

“ Doctors, nurses and other health care providers can do a tremendous amount to help victims of domestic and sexual violence, but they must be trained to do so and taught the most effective interventions, both when violence is occurring and when treating the health problems that can result. We are making great progress in Native communities, but the need there is immense and we must do even more.”

Since 2002, the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), in conjunction with the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Administration for Children and Families, has been working to improve the response to victims of domestic violence in Indian health facilities and tribal communities across the United States. As a result of this national initiative, annual routine screening for intimate partner and domestic violence of Native women between the ages of 15 and 40 increased from zero percent in 2002 to 36 percent in 2007. This exceeds the Government Performance and Results Act target annual aggregate screening rate of 28 percent and is approaching the Healthy People 2010 goal of 40 percent.

In addition to screening, the initiative focuses on: helping health care staff respond effectively to domestic violence victims and their children; creating partnerships between health care providers, local domestic violence services and other organizations, so that there is a coordinated community response to domestic violence; and building stronger advocacy for domestic violence issues within health care settings at the tribal and national level.

More than 50 hospitals and clinics have participated in the screening initiative and the project includes partners, Sacred Circle and Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project.