SCREENING MEN FOR PARTNER VIOLENCE IN A PRIMARY-CARE SETTING - A NEW STRATEGY FOR DETECTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

BACKGROUND. Health care domestic violence initiatives have given littl e attention to screening men for violent behavior toward their partner s. We conducted this study to assess whether men would answer question s about partner violence in a health care setting, to estimate the pre valence of violent behavior in male primary care patients, and to iden tify characteristics associated with violent behavior. METHODS. We use d an anonymous written survey at three family medicine clinics. The su rvey instrument included the Conflict Tactics Scale to measure aggress ive and violent behavior. Standard questions assessed demographic vari ables and health behaviors. RESULTS. Three hundred seventy-five men we re seen during the study. Of these, 317 (85%) participated and 237 met inclusion criteria. Thirty-two men (13.5%, 95% confidence interval (C I), 9.1-17.9) disclosed physical violence toward their partner in the previous 12 months. Ten men (4.2%, 95% CI, 3.7-4.8) reported severe vi olence. Men with increased alcohol consumption, depression, or history of abuse as children were more likely to report violent behavior. Pre sence of all three variables resulted in a probability of violence of 41%, compared with a baseline probability of 7% if no risk factors wer e present. CONCLUSIONS. Primary care physicians should consider screen ing male patients for aggressive behavior toward their intimate partne rs. Physicians should be especially cognizant of this possibility in m en who are depressed, heavy alcohol users, or were childhood victims o f abuse.