Woman abuse is a serious problem in our society. Almost 1 in 10 women are physically abused by an intimate partner in any given year, and up to a third of Canadian women report some form of physical or mental abuse over the course of their lifetime.  Women may disclose abuse during the course of routine or emergency medical visits, and therefore the health care response to woman abuse is key in helping women cope with this problem.  To date, the research available does not tell us what health care responses best identify women who are abused, and assist them in getting the best forms of help in either the health setting or the community.  This integrated, multi-phased research program is providing evidence to answer the question “does routine screening for woman abuse do more good than harm?”  A number of preliminary projects, including two that ask women (both those who are abused and not) and their health providers how best to identify woman abuse in health settings, have informed the development of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) – underway - to assess the effectiveness of screening versus no screening in four types of health care settings.

Last modified February 29, 2008