Patient attitudes about mandatory reporting of domestic violence - Implications for health care professionals

As of January 1994, California physicians are required to report to police ail patients who are suspected to be victims of domestic violence. This art icle describes the results from a focus group study of abused women (n = 51 ) that explored their experiences with and perspectives on medical care. Th e eight focus groups included two Latina (total n = 14), two Asian (total n = 14), two African-American (total n = 9), and two Caucasian (total n = 14 ) groups of women who had been the victims of domestic abuse within the pre vious 2 years. The women were recruited through community-based organizatio ns in the San Francisco Bay Area. With regard to physician reporting of dom estic violence to police, five themes were identified: fear of retaliation by the abuser, fear of family separation, mistrust of the legal system, des ire for police protection, and preference for confidentiality and autonomy in the patient-health professional relationship. Our results indicate that mandatory reporting may pose a threat to the safety and well-being of abuse d women and may create barriers to their seeking help and communicating wit h health care professionals about domestic violence.