HEALTH-CARE BARRIERS AND INTERVENTIONS FOR BATTERED WOMEN

Family violence is a major public health problem. Battered women prese nt with multiple physical injuries in hospital emergency rooms, clinic s, and personal physicians' offices. Yet, they are often not identifie d as battered and fail to receive appropriate treatment for the nonphy sical effects of these events. Instead, only discrete physical injurie s are identified. The authors explore the literature to identify barri ers in recognizing and treating battered women. These barriers are vie wed as a microcosm of the larger public health problem in which batter ed women fear identifying themselves and often are not recognized by p ublic health professionals. Some barriers pertain to the victims thems elves; others can be attributed to the attitudes of medical care provi ders in emergency rooms, clinics, and private physicians' offices.The many faceted needs of victims require a variety of interventions inclu ding medical models, criminal justice invention systems, and social mo dels for change. Some intervention strategies that are currently being employed in various programs in the United States are described.