Injuries and health care use in women with partners in batterer intervention programs

Objective: To characterize injury frequency, injury patterns, and health ca re seeking behavior in women with intimate partners enrolled in batterer in tervention programs. Methods: A standardized telephone interview was conduc ted on a sample of women with male partners enrolled in batterer interventi on programs in four U.S. cities. information on prior injuries and the util ization of health care services was sought. Results: Four hundred and eight y eight of the 648 women (75.3%) reported a history of prior injury as a re sult of abuse, Contusions were the most common injury Of the women reportin g contusions, 233 (51.4%) reported contusions as their only injuries. Anoth er 220 women (48.6%) reported other injuries in addition to contusions. In the majority of cases (63.2%) the contusions were to multiple body parts. W hen the contusion involved only one anatomical region, it was mostly to the face. A total of 192 of the 488 injured women (39.3%) reported ever seekin g medical care for injuries caused by their intimate partner Twenty-three w omen (4.7% of the injured cohort or 3.5% of the total cohort) reported havi ng ever been hospitalized for injuries sustained from abuse.